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Star Trek: Online and Free 2 Play

2012-01-25T14:43:00.004+13:00

STO is a MMO title that has been out for a couple of years now. Developed by Cryptic, the game went free to play last week. Cryptic itself is as much part of the game's story. Recently acquired by Perfect World, a Chinese based MMO developer, Cryptic owns the Star Trek IP as well as 3 super hero titles, City of Heroes, City of Villians, and Champions Online. The first 2 titles are nearly defunct and Champions Online remains essentially static with only a trickle of new content. But after playing STO the last week I can see where all the time and attention has gone.

STO is pretty good for what it has been through. Who could live up to the expectations of the Star Trek fanbase? What lunatic would put themselves in the line of fire to such a history? There are surely detractors, but for me STO captures a good flavour of the cannon and also complements the world with its new story-lines.

Every race is represented from all series'. Yet they all weave together pretty seamlessly. Not every race is playable, but all the iconic races are. Each player gets to select and customize a personal avatar which is used for "away missions". However, costume choices (for free) are severely limited. 90% of the costume options require some payment to unlock them. Each "captain" will ultimately have a 4 man away team which can also use all the customization options paid for. Each can have different gear equipped which also alters appearance (unlike Champions Online).

There are essentially only 3 ship types which correspond to the 3 character types--Science Team, Tactical Team, and Engineering Team. These match up with Research vessels, Escorts, and Cruisers respectively. These ships are given some variability based on rank with "light" ships at the bottom and "advanced" ships at the top of the 6 tiers. Ships you pay for have slight advantages over ships you are awarded for free. This roughly translates to 36 standard ship choices not counting "shuttles" and other vanity ships. 18 are free and 18 require payment.

Ship combat is nicely done. The tactics are complicated enough to give players options. No one ship or configuration will excel in all situations. Your flight tactics have a dramatic impact on combat effectiveness. One must manage speed, shields, weapons, and other special abilities. This provides a wide range of combinations and caters to a number of playing styles. Really well done by the Cryptic team.

Away team combat is a bit more automated as each team member is essentially controlled by the computer AI. It is still a lot of fun, but requires a lot less dexterity.

The crafting system is simple although it does take a large number of parts which all look very similar. There is a bank slot system, but you do have to have the parts in your "bag" in order to craft. I was disappointed at this feature as Champions Online crafting automatically uses items from your bank saving you from having to run back and forth pointlessly. But on the plus side it appears you can craft anything you can find or buy. In most MMO's I've played it seems crafting items is usually pointless as you can usually find or buy better items. I like knowing that I really can save up and build the exact part I like w/o immediately finding a better drop.

The skill system is a bit abstract. Each skill is explained and you can clearly see where you've spend ranks, but I could never spot dramatic differences in performance even after increasing ranks by +6 levels or more at once. I'm sure they are doing something, but it is hard to see.

In many cases you have more skill than you can use. Every power/ship/item is limited by your rank. For example, a Lt. Commander can't use level 5 Phaser banks until promoted to full Commander. Even though that ship weapon could be fitted to your ships. At least in my case, I had the resources, crafting skill, support skills, and the desire to use better modules/powers long before I had the rank to use them. This is a balancing hack, which I can understand, but just feels arbitrarily limiting--something game suffers from in many areas. There is no option to pay a lump sum for access to "most" of the content. So every customization confronts the player with options that have to be purchased. Purchased ships have more powerful options than free ships. I'm sure there are more examples. I suppose the upside is you can get exactly what you want without buying stuff you don't want, but it is perhaps too much reality in my fantasy game.

In the final analysis, I give STO two thumbs up. It is a great game at list price, it is a crazy good game for free!

Game On!

http://startrekonline.com/frontpage

Eve has some problems

2011-06-25T19:41:00.002+12:00

I may expand this thought later. The controversy over Eve Online is all over community websites. I won't re-hash it here. But I have been pondering how we got here.

MMOs have been changing. No one has yet been able to pull off WoW-2 or the Blizzard success story. Many morgs have thus been forced to more creative billing strategies like Free-2-Play and e-stores of game goods/boosters. Also in the last few years, Social Networking use has changed the way remote friends connect and communicate.

Throughout these years of turmoil, Eve Online has remained fairly static. I have often felt that Eve was a really big, really pretty, chat client. It was awesome to connect with digital friends and go shoot things. The scope of an MMO provides more content and variability than even the largest First Person Shooters. So while many FPS have voice comms and friends do play together, you're still often limited to a smaller group, you typically have to be in the same time zone, and well the games are pretty limited. But Eve was innovative then. It was social networking before we knew what to call it. But... now we have fully developed ways to find gaming friends online and schedule any shared game. And let's face it, many, many games are Internet ready now. I can talk on vent and play half a dozen games with my friends.

Eve tried to keep up with evegate and evevoice... but predictably, these are not as capable as the competition of Facebook, Ventrilo and Team Speak; how could they be? So if you remove the social exclusivity of Eve Online, what is left? The game itself. But that's the problem, the game is boring. There is very little action and the only real game challenge is the endurance of your butt in the chair. Time is the only challenge Eve. Everything from skill training to mining to planetary manufacturing... All of it is click-and-wait. Often there isn't even a pleasing effect to watch. Missions are arguably the most active task, but with only a few hundred or so missions, you quickly see them all and begin repeating them. These too become mostly a game of time.

PvP is the real champion of Eve, but even this is often hours and hours of waiting and/or chasing followed by 30 seconds of combat. The rush is a good one, but a very short one.

With all my social needs being met... and a many other game tools that work better than Eve's I'm forced to consider the game itself. To quote the Goonfleet Executor... Eve is a bad game. It is mostly just spreadsheets in space. Although CCP often talks about introducing new mechanics to the game... they seem to miss the point everytime and just deliver more spreadsheets in space. More click-and-wait... no game.

Today (if you care and if you look) you'll find a million complaints about microtransactions and apathy for your player base... but at the core the real problem is that Eve is losing its edge. It is showing its age and it is losing its game...

Game On, folks!

Not EVEn

2011-06-21T21:36:00.003+12:00

So I got this off twitter... "@Masadaco consider this. If skill and skillpoints are equal, the outlaw pilot will always lose."

I've come across lots of hypothetical PvP discussions in Eve that start this way "If skill and skillpoints are equal..." Well, as soon as those words are uttered you can stop listening. You don't need to because it never happens. The pilots in Eve train over time for each skill and there are like 200 million skill points worth of things to train. No one has exactly the same skills. If you managed to perfectly train 2 pilots identically, no two people will approach combat that same way thus there are no two of "equal skill". In this case the Eve commentor didn't even mention ships and fittings; another area of vast diversity. So in the case of equal pilots, with equal skill points, with the same ships, fittings, rigs, and implants you have to just give up on reality. This situation will never happen. It is pointless to guess and what the outcome might be.

Eve is raw mob power. You are either much stronger than your opponent or much weaker. There is no "fair". There is no "equal". The romantic notion of duels has been lost to Eve for years now. If someone is offering to "1v1" you, the odds are just as high that they plan to have their friends gank you as soon as you undock. Don't be fooled. Give no quarter to your enemies in Eve. You won't last long if you do.

Champions Online: Go for the Gold

2011-03-28T11:32:00.001+13:00

I decided to go for the Gold membership option on Champions as an easier way to evaluate all the bits and bobs you can get in the game. The F2P option is still a great bargain, but how tempting are those archetypes and costumes? The costume bits will be attractive to players that love tweaking their toon’s appearance. But stoic players may not care. The archetypes I am a bit on the fence about.

On the one hand, they are a great introduction to the game and make a focused style character easy. If you’re not buying a monthly sub, then chances are you’re going to buy one or more archetypes. F2P subscribers can’t use “Custom Build” options so you’re going to either have to stick to the free archetypes or buy one of the newer ones. Free archetypes include Behemoth (tank), Grimore (general purpose), Blade (melee DPS), Inferno (ranged DPS), Glacier (crowd control/tank), and Mind (healer-ish). Each of these is fun and playable. Some of the premium archetypes are Void (ranged DPS), Specialist (melee DPS), Inventor (general purpose), Savage (melee DPS), and Tempest (ranged DPS). There is a power curve difference between the free archetypes and the premium. In particular, the Inventor is a monster at 11th level.

On the other hand, the archetypes are all underpowered compared to what a player can do with Custom Build. The archetypes are very rigid and typically follow one power chain from beginning to end. But with a custom toon you can pick 3 powers from Fire (Inferno), and 3 powers from Gadgeteering (Inventor), and 3 powers from Weapon Melee (Blade/Specialist), etc, etc. You can cherry pick the most effective powers in one toon. I put together one custom build based on ranged DPS that would most closely resemble the Tempest. The Tempest template grants the Gigabolt power at 40th (!) level. I took the power at 10th. Gigabolt drops a path of death from you to the target. Even at 10th level it universally obliterated normal villains and almost killed 2-bar villains. My custom build (Shazbolt), is a walking DPS super nova. I can barely see the screen from all the flare and radiant effects from Gigabolt, Orbital Cannon, Spark Storm, and various other bolts… not counting the artillery from her munitions bots. Nothing in the archetypes compares.

Custom build is probably the most compelling reason to purchase a sub rather than F2P. The archetypes cost 920 Atari Coins and that is going to break down to $11.50. Buy one or two archetypes and you’re looking at what it would cost for 1 month anyway.

The other really useful premium options are the travel powers. Without a Gold sub, you’re looking at very basic options for motoring around. But the Gold subscription allows for some fun variants like Jet Boots and Fire Flight. These work just as well as the free options, but look cooler. Jet Boots are supposed to be a nudge faster and they are, but you won’t really notice often.

Still… one thing that may not be obvious is that for all the stuff included in a Gold membership, you still have cause to buy and use Atari Coins… Light Speed (travel power) for example still has to be bought for 420 coins ($5.20) even with a Gold sub. Lots of costume options are still extra (usually 380 coins or $4.25). A Gold account is given 400 coins per month so it is arguable that these options too become “free” after you build up long enough.

I did a rough comparison of things “I would want” added to F2P vs the cost of a sub. If I bought 1 travel power, 2 extra character slots, 3 bag slots, 1 costume set, the 2 expansion zones, and limited myself to a single archetype then my total would be $56.25 (4280 coins at 1500 Atari Coins x 3). Four months of play comes in at $59.96. So if you had the dosh up front, knew exactly what you wanted (character wise), and were willing to live with the reduced (yet still very playable) power level of a premium archetype, then the F2P pays off in the long run. Of course, the cheap gamer in me still struggles to pay that much up front on a game I haven’t really tried. I predict most folks will end up with a couple of months of Gold subscription and that will hook them on the Custom Build character and that will lock them in to subscription for a long time.

Cryptic really has an evil marketing genius in its dark cubicles. Game On!

Champions Online: Free For All

2011-03-18T08:50:00.004+13:00

I've recently been playing some of this with the boys. I was intrigued by "free" and thought initially the boys would like it and I'd save some dosh.

It turns out I like the silly game. It is only loosely an MMO by my definition. There are dozens of servers and there is lots of instancing between zones and in "dungeons". I notice that most areas only support about 60 players.

In case you can't guess, Champion's is a superhero genre RPG. While you may instantly conjure images of Superman and Wonder Woman, the hero building system allows you to create a very wide range of useful and interesting characters. From secret agents, to cyborgs, to demons and wizards. It all fits somewhere in a comic book, right? So about anything goes.

The questing mechanic is very much "amusement park" designed with hundreds of "Missions" to complete. Zones are roughly organized by level of difficulty, but they spread them out quite a bit so you will rotate between areas. You may start in Canada, move to Westside, then back to Canada. But there are always a few options so you can pick where you want to run your missions.

Character advancement is an XP / Level system where you gain access to more powers at key levels. If you play for free, you'll be limited to their pre-built "Archtypes". But if pop for the $15 USD monthly sub, you can get access to more archtypes and the "custom build". I'd recommend starting with the archtypes just to get familiar with the game, but you'll likely feel the lure of the Custom Build before too long.

This isn't my first experience with Free 2 Play, but this has certainly been the longest. I don't think Cryptic (the developer) has done a particularly better job with their game in my case. I just don't like wow/fantasy clones. If I want fantasy, I play WoW. There isn't any reason to play anything else. But if don't want fantasy, the options are much more limited. CO is a good departure from WoW-clones even if it does use a lot of the same concepts (missions, levels, classes, etc).

The game does offer classic features like banks, auction houses, and crafting. I've dabbled with these, but not fully explored them. The end-game seems limited. Level advancement stops at 40 and after that it appears your options are 1) PvP or 2) make alts. So it remains to be seen how far Cryptic will take it. It shows a lot of promise, but still falls short of the big dogs in the MMO industry.

But for now... POW! BAM! WHAMO! Game On!

Mass Effect (the first one)

2011-02-18T10:53:00.002+13:00

A couple of cool video game things...

First, Mass Effect is a great game that is re-creating for me what Knights of the Old Republic did. With all the hype around Mass Effect 2, I thought I'd check out the first game now that it's getting cheaper. So far I like it quite a bit.

TL/DR: Good game, good graphics, good UI. A bit cludgy on Windows 7 64-bit. I had to run XP compatibility mode, but that seems to be working fine.

ME is a sci-fi RPG game where you control your main character with a party of 2 other support characters. You get to choose your team each time you venture out of your ship. Even cooler you get to run around on your ship talking to the crew and your strike teams. You can fly to regions, star systems and individual planets and moons. You can't land on all of the worlds, but do get down on to many of them. Your away team gets to land in an all-terrain tank complete with machine gun and cannon. You can freely embark and disembark from the tank to explore.

I love the non-linear story arc that lets you go where you want when you want. Roaming around the galaxy gives a giddy sense of exploration and discovery. Plus you can get out and shoot plenty of bad guys.

To me the crowning achievement is the great story. It is engaging and interesting. You can guide your conversations with the characters and have long discussions that have flow. It is the same feeling I get when I fall in to a book and I'm just hooked on the story. I love games that do this.

Second cool thing is the discovery of Steam game manager. Steam is one of the systems you can use to buy games online, download them, and manage your license library. It isn't too surprising in this day of "instant obsolete install media" that online stores are taking over. Steam is my first generally positive experience with these stores. So far it is working just fine.

Game On!

More Feats of Doom

2011-02-15T13:17:00.016+13:00

Feats listed below are for a True20 based RPG in the Adventures of Doom campaign. I am capturing them here for convenience to me and my players. (Who never read this stuff anyway.)

Mind Touch*
Adept Power, Maintenance

You can establish contact with another mind. The base Difficulty is 10, modified by familiarity. An unwilling subject gets a Will saving throw to avoid contact. If the save is successful, no contact is made. If you do not want the subject to know you are making mental contact, you can make a separate opposed Mind Touch check against the subject’s Sense Motive, Second Sight, or check (whichever has the highest bonus). If you win, the subject is unaware of your attempt. If the subject wins, she is aware of your attempt (whether you succeed or fail in actually establishing contact).

While you are in mental contact with another being, the two of you can communicate at the rate of normal speech, hearing each other’s thoughts. You can also send a single visual image each round instead of speaking. Both you and the subject can choose to lie or omit information; you’re “speaking” to each other mentally, not reading each other’s thoughts. Mind Touch is two-way, meaning you are in mental contact with the subject for purposes of her powers and vice versa. Subjects do not need to share a common language. Targets with less than -3 INT have no "thoughts" but will have instints/feelings (see Empathy below). If a friendly mental contact turns hostile, the subject can make a Will saving throw to break contact. Once the subject has failed an attempt to eject the intruder from her mind, she can’t break the contact. The victim can attempt to beat the adept unconscious.

If your Mind Touch is broken, any other powers you are maintaining requiring mental contact are also broken.

Empathy: While in contact you receive empathic feedback from the target (e.g. hunger, fear, love, anger, etc). A targest who attempt to hide their emotions get a Will save to filter empathic content. This can sometimes be instinctively done even when the subject is not aware of the power. Using this power during other uses of Bluff, Diplomacy, or Initimidate grant +2 on the attempt. Uses of Suggestion (adept power) on a touched mind impose a -1 penalty to Will saves relating to the suggestion.

Mentally Aiding Others: While in mental contact with another character, you can use the aid action (a standard action) to grant that character a +2 bonus on Will saving throws or on any skill check where your skill rank is equal to or greater than the subject’s. The adept can also attempt to shake a subject out of a charm or beguiling. This grants the victim one additional save. If the save fails the subject is aware of the adepts attempt to manipulate them.

Try Again: You can retry Mind Touch freely, but retries on the same subject within an hour’s time are fatiguing.
Time: Mind Touch is a move action. It requires concentration to maintain.

*This power differs from the text in the True20 Handbook

Voudon Blessing
Adept Ritual

Adept may spend 1 hour crafting a voudon fetish of two varieties. A White Blessing grants the wielder +1 Attack and +1 Damage with any weapon. The fetish is creepy and usually constructed dead flesh of animal origin (including human). Anyone who spots the fetish makes all further reaction checks toward the holder at -1 (effectively -1 CHA). The fetish is a small object for purposes of concealment. Alternatively, the Adept can create a Black Fetish which grants the holder +2 Attack and +2 Damage, but drops the Adept's Charisma by -4.

The effects of either charm end at the next sunrise. The charm disappears at dawn. The Adept can spend 1 minute of concentration to absorb the charm.

Spirit Guide
Adept Feat (Familiar)

The adept gains a spirit guide with the same utility as a Familiar. The spirit guide is human (or humanoid). The spirit can only be seen and heard by the adept. Other Adepts with Spirit Guide can hear other Adept's guides, but not see them. Creatures/entities that can see in to the Astral Plane or other Ghosts can see the Guide. The spirit is an ally and friend to the adept and will act accordingly (warning her of danger, etc).

Spirit Guides are incorpreal. They can move through unprotected barriers and fly. They have Darkvision and normal hearing. Spirit Guides have one Wis/Int/Cha based skill per point of Adept Charisma. They have no physical stats (Str, Dex, Con) and can distribute 4 points in to mental stats (Wis, Int, Cha). They gain skill points when the Adept advances a level. They gain 1 Skill Point / point of Adept Cha per level.

Level 1-2: Spirit and Adept can speak and see each other. Spirit is bound to a physical object carried by the Adept and can not range more than 60' from this object. If the object is lost, the Adept can summon the Spirit back to a new object in a ritual taking one day.

Level 3-5: Guides can appear and speak to others within 60'. Guides can commune with the spirits of the dead in yes/no/mu fashion. Adept must be touching remains or a cherished object of the deceased.

Level 5-7: Guide and Adept can now commune mentally. Range increases to 120'.

Level 8-10: Spirit Guide can detect lies told in its presence.

Spartan Alpha Armor
Warrior

Grants the character the ability to use Spartan Alpha Squad armor of Atlantean design. This Feat is required to further enhance Spartan armor with additional upgrades.

Plasma Grenade
Warrior (Pre-Req: Spartan Alpha Armor, 3rd level)

Once per combat encounter the Spartan armor can produce a single Plasma Grenade (Dam +5, Radius 5', Range Increment 10' / +1 STR, Reflex save (10 + Warrior Level) for half). The grenade appears in the warrior's hand. If unused (held) it disappears at the end of combat. If the grenade is dropped it detonates as normal. On a critical hit the grenade sticks to the target negating the Reflex save.

Plasma grenades are luminous. Carrying one imposes a -4 Stealth penalty. It also draws attention and attacks. Plasma grenades deal fire damage for purposes of overcoming DR, but is not "flame" for purposes of igniting other flamables or explosives.

Every 3 levels the warrior gains 1 additional grenade per encounter (1 per round), +5' radius, and +1 damage. (e.g. at 6th level 2/combat, 10' radius, Damage +6). Max 5/combat, 15' radius, Damage +8.

Ki Dart
Warrior, Fatiguing

The warrior can focus internal energy and fire it as a bolt at a single target as a Full Round action. (Dam +3, Range 30'). The Dart hits automatically for either lethal or non-lethal damage. Target can either make a Reflex save or a Toughness save vs. DC 15 to avoid damage.

Ki Needles
Warrior (Pre-Req: Ki Dart), Fatiguing

Warrior can fire up to 3 bolts at up to 3 targets (Dam +3, Range 30') normal ranged attack. Three bolts could be fired at 1 target as 3 attacks. Full Round action.

This Won't Be Easy
Warrior / Expert (Pre-Req: Acrobatics 5+)

The character can always force combat on to unstable ground for 1d4 rounds once per encounter. As a Free Action, they spill a bucket of soapy water, kick over a barrel of apples, balance on a handrail. Something always seems to be around to make the fight harder.

The player makes a "power check" of d20 + Level. This becomes the Acrobatics check modifier for all combatants in direct melee with the character. Opponents must make an Acrobatics Check DC 10+result while the player makes a check DC of 5+result. A failed check results in -4 to their attack and loses their dodge bonuses. A failed result by 10 means they have fallen prone.

Aspect of the Sword
Warrior (Pre-Req: Improved Strike)

The warrior spends 15 minutes attuning to a melee weapon of superior quality and gains the damage and DR qualities of that weapon. The effect lasts 24 hours and requires meditation each day to re-establish. The weapon can not be changed once set until the next day. The weapon must be one the warrior can use without penalty. The weapon must remain in the possession of the warrior for the duration of the effect. If the weapon is lost for more than 1 minute per level, the effect ends.

The effects of Aspect of the Sword are subtly visible and alter the hands and feet slightly in representation of the tuned weapon.

The USS Macon: Rigid Airship of Doom

2011-02-15T09:13:00.004+13:00

The race for ancient technology is on and the US won't be left behind. Leveraging the best of German science, the US commissions the USS Macon as the strike platform of choice for the quest.

The Macon can travel to every corner of the globe regardless of roads or airstrips. Housing 5 of its own bi-plane fighters it can lauch formidible airstrikes. On board barracks also provide a home for the highly experimental Spartan Alpha Squad--the first Army unit to capitalize on Atlantean technology. These super soldiers have been trained from a young age in the Spartan style by the venerated and wiley Commander Johnson.

Johnson fought along side the Lareux brothers in WWI and now the three of them are putting their knowledge and teams together to beat the Nazis and their witch captain, Lt Hilda Nightshade. Spectre, Drake, and Sgt. Carter now form the front line in the Adventures of Doom!

Real History of the USS Macon:
The US really did have aircraft carrying rigid airships in 1935... Two of them. The USS Akron and the USS Macon. The Akron crashed on April 3rd, 1933 with the loss of nearly all on board. The Macon would crash (losing only 3 crew) on Feb 12th, 1935. The Akron and Macon were modifications of German designs. They were the largest rigid airships to use helium gas rather than the explosive hydrogen gas used by the Germans. Helium was extremely expensive and only the US had the resources to use such large volumes of gas. Each ship did carry 5 planes. The original idea was to use these ships as long range spotters over the ocean. As airplane technology advanced, the airship became too vulnerable to be used effectively in combat and after the Macon, the US would never commission another rigid airship for military use.

Here is the info on the "Sparrowhawk" fighters used by the Akron and the Macon.

Here is the best resource I've found on all historic airships.

Sgt. John Carter

2011-02-14T22:58:00.005+13:00

Level 3 Warrior (True20 Character)

United States Army Special Corp
Designation: Spartan Alpha 002
Superior Officer: Commander Johnson of the rigid airship USS Macon
Background: Classified (Top Secret)

Stats:
STR: +1 DEX: +3 CON: +1 INT: +1 WIS: +0 CHA: +0

Saves:
Will: +0 Fort: +4 Ref: +4 Toughness: +8

Skills:
Notice (Wis): +6, Drive (Dex): +9, Acrobatics (Dex) +9, Pilot (Dex): +9, Gadget (Int): +7

Feats:
Firearms Training, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Spartan Armor, Grenade Upgrade, Weapon Training, Attack Specialization (Machine Pistol)

Core Ability:
A warrior can spend a point of Conviction to immediately erase all bruised and hurt damage conditions (and their associated penalties).

Attacks: Base +3 (Combat) +3 (Dex) = +6
Punch/Kick: (+3 +2) +5 for +2 Dam
"Persuaders" (Machine Pistol): (+3 +3 +1) +7 for +3 Dam (+8 w/in 30')
Plasma Grenade: (+3 +3) +6 for +5 damage 5' radius Ref save (13) for 1/2
All other guns: +6
All melee: +5

Defense: Base 10 +3 (Combat) = 13 w/Parry +2 = 14 or w/ Dodge +2 = 15 (plus weapon)

Spartan Alpha Mark 0 Combat Armor (+4, Powered)

+1 STR
+5' movement
Produce Grenade (1 / encounter)
+1 Fort saves vs airborn poisons
+1 save vs Fatigue

Grin and Bear it

2011-02-13T15:31:00.002+13:00

Josh and Evy finally track down Walking Bear to a mafia warehouse. As they contemplate how best to get in, a man in full body armor strikes up a conversation. He is Sgt. Carter of the Spartan Alpha squad. He has been sent to assist them in finding Walking Bear.

Waiting until nightfall the trio climb on to the roof where they enter by to the top stairwell. Evelyn makes quick work of picking the locks on the way down. Josh brilliantly disables various guards. Carter proves to be no slouch with a right hook.

In the warehouse main dock they encounter another small strike squad. The Germans! After a brief conversation, the germans attack. But the heroes overcome. Lt. Nightshade uses some sort of strange power to fill the warehouse with fog and then vanishes. The fallen soldiers are gone when the mist clears... leaving only their spilt blood behind. Walking Bear is rescued.

Commander Johnson, leader of the Spartan Squad, is at the Lareux Procurement house when they return. It seems this strange ancient technology is now wanted by both sides. The race is on! Stay tuned for our next episode as America races in to the Arizona wilds to find the Temple of Isis... another Adventure of Doom!

Free Advice: Making ISK

2010-12-21T14:15:00.002+13:00

Every new pilot must drive toward some way to earn ISK in New Eden. At first income is fairly slow and sometimes it is not obvious if you're doing it right. This is just a very high level list of the most common ways to make ISK for new pilots. More experienced pilots will have already discovered their 'best" ways. These are all ways to make ISK in Empire and near Low Sec. The rules for 0.0 are different.

The ways to make ISK boil down to these activities: Mining, PvE Missions, Exploration plundering, Wormhole plundering, Creative marketing, Buy it, and Piracy.

Mining:
You probably know how this works. Chew on belt rocks and sell the Ore/Minerals. You want to plan for Mining Barges and high Refining skills. ISK potential is entirely reliant on your yield rate (the yield of your mining lasers/strip miners). Higher yields = more ISK regardless of what rock you are mining.

PvE Missions:
Missions are repetative, but steady. If mission running is really your goal, then drive toward the "better" PvE ships; the Drake, Raven, and Dominix. The Drake/Raven are Shield/Missile ships while the Dominix route is Armor/Drones. Plan accordingly. ISK generation between Mining and Missions is fairly even at high levels. Experience will allow you to hone in on the best ways to make ISK for each. Missions make ISK based on Rewards, Bounties, dropped Modules, and Salvage. You want to focus on increasing your rate of misison completion and pick an appropriate level of time spent on looting/salvage.

Exploration:
By using scan probe launchers and probes you can find hidden places in space. This income is wildly erratic where you make score nothing for a couple of days and then discover an item worth 10's of millions. You will need to focus on skills to enhance probing and ships with probe advantage (like covert ops). You may also end up needing PvE support to deal with NPC mobs in exploration sites. But finding the sites is longer part of the process. You can always ask for help to clear out/tank a site.

Wormholes:
These "Unknown" Cosmic Signatures are found via Exploration above. But while Empire Exploration will always be pretty limited value, Wormhole pundering will have a much higher return. But you will need to have pretty good PvE skills to deal with the Sleeper rats found in WH's. Salvaging Sleeper wrecks get a different sub-set of salvage parts used in T3 construction. Melted Nanoribbons sell for 4-5 million ISK each. You can harvest these off "frigate" sized Sleepers allowing even modest skill pilots a way to make ISK. Wormholing is tricky and variable. You'll want to focus on battlecruiser sized ships like the Drake and Hurricane.

Markets:
Using the markets takes a bit of a shrewd eye and an accountant's mind. But even a noob pilot can begin to make ISK by trading and transporting minerals. You will require some initial capital ISK to start. You may need a solid 500 million ISK to start (see below). The idea is classic "buy low and sell high." Target primary markets are Rens, Jita, Amarr, and Dodixie. Fat haulers and Freighters are helpful.

Buy it:
Buy Game Time Codes with your own cash and sell them on the forums or through PLEX in game. Each code can probably score between 600-800 million ISK. Great for those cash rich / time poor pilots.

Piracy:
Lie, cheat, murder, and steal. Gank ships in low sec... in particular hapless miners. Loot their strippers and sell them. Look for T1 haulers, cargo scan them, and gank the ones full of multi-million ISK BPO's, faction modules, or whole ships (like Hulks). Scan for private Courier Contracts that have low deposits, accept them and then break them... sell the contents for your own profit. Post stupid contracts "giving away" items that really require the victim to give you oodles of ISK. Post shuttles on the market for 8,000,000 ISK. Run bogus lotteries. Beg for ISK. Ninja salvage on other people's missions. Can flip. Etc. All you really have to do to be a pirate is know the game mechanics and exploit them.

Eve Advice: 3 Websites critical to Eve

2010-12-02T11:22:00.001+13:00

3 Websites every pilot should use...

Eve Survival: http://eve-survival.org
Specifically, the bit around Mission Reports. This site lists every single mission possible. It tells you exactly what will spawn and often provides pictures of the "rooms". It tells you exactly what tank to fit, what damage to deal, and will provide some strategy advice. It works nicely with the in-game browser. If you lose even one ship because you didn't know shooting the wrong mob would aggro the room it will only be because you didn't read the Mission Report. It may still happen, but just realize it was 100% preventable.

Eve Central: http://eve-central.com
Yes, I know you're going to say the market downloads are stale and they are, but it is still very useful as a fast way to check "general" pricing. Do not use it as the absolute tool of max profit. It isn't. But if you just can't remember if that skill book is 1 million or 3... Eve Central will instantly sort you out. Very handy for that price check in Jita, Rens, etc.

Dotlan: http://evemaps.dotlan.net
Ah I remember the days before dotlan... Maps were static and often out of date. It sucked and you basically had to memorize. Looking up things like true security status was nigh impossible. Now it is all totally easy for you new pilots. Dotlan is hugely powerful. Not only does it map out the systems, it can also provide one-click views to ship kills, station services, sov, moons, moon minerals, belts, and crap loads more. Later in life, you will appreciate the Jump Tool for capital pilots. Maps are essential for PvP roams. You can quickly spot "pockets", choke points, and backdoor routes for escape. Probably the most useful website in Eve.

There are dozens of other tools, but these 3 are what I would call "essential".

Derelik: A new beginning

2010-11-30T15:20:00.000+13:00

The ages pass in to shadow as alliances rise and fall. The years slip by in a blur of alarm klaxons and missile impacts. The endless wars of New Eden echo in our minds where they are silent in space. These immortal minds… a curse… a blessing… a source of wealth… But at what cost? Immortals can not know what lies behind the final veil… and so we focus only on the next goal, perhaps only on the next day.

All good alliances must come to an end. Khanid Trade Syndicate still holds its name, but its heart is dead. The shell will ramble on for some time and maybe it will even find a new heart, but not today. Mighty Domitainvs seized all the possessions he could and left—a betrayal the likes of which can only be known in New Eden. But this is not the cause of death to KTS. KTS was dying and its own illness infected Domi to what I can only describe as madness.

We could debate the causes, the effects, the reasons, the lies, and the truths all endlessly. But my Master can only do what all Immortals do… live on.

We left KTS behind. We struck out on our own again. We spent many months in Gallente space re-consolidating assets and seeking new allies. Our friends in Phoenix Division never disappeared, they had only moved on to new wars and conquests. But more war and conquest was not what my Master wanted. We quietly hired out to the Federation Navy for a while. We spent a lot of time in station. And then, as always, something happened.

A few of the war torn pilots of PHDV rumbled out of nullsec space fresh from battle and blood. They were intent on forging a new corp of new pilots. Most of them were not even in their first battlships yet. The rally call went out, “We’re back! Come join together again our missed brothers and sisters.” So we joined. We have moved again to Derelik to start again. It passes the time… and we seem to have very long time to pass.

~Porter Thorne, Servant of Masada Akiva, Tribe Research And Development [.TRAD]

Nuns on the Run / Death Angel

2010-11-22T12:45:00.002+13:00

Two completely different games, but both pretty fun. I played both this last weekend.

Nuns on the Run is your traditional board game with a fold out board, dice, and some cardboard tokens. The idea is simple, play 1 of 6 novites sneaking around the convent at night while the Prioress and Abbess patrol the grounds. This game manages to capture a little bit of the drama you feel playing hide and sneak as a kid. The only quirky bit is that the novites must write down each of their moves in secret so no one really gets to discover how crazy the chase was until someone wins. The novite wins when she gets the right color key, unlocks the door to her randomly chosen objective, and gets back to her room undetected. This game is high on fun factor, but would be harder for kids under about 10 to figure out. You have to count off your moves in secret and write them down. This might be a challenge for the younger players.

Death Angel is one of Fantasy Flight's small format games. The box is only about 5 inches by 8 inches. Inside is a collection of cards and some cardboard "support" tokens. Death Angel is a spin-off game to the Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000 franchise. It is a cooperative game where the plays each take control of a pair of Space Marines as they attempt to explore and neutralize an infested "space hulk". The game makes very creative use of simple cards to create a quite complex game. Players familiar with Warhammer will like the concept, but the rules are so unlike Warhammer 40k that no experience is necessary. The complexity will rule out the casual or younger game player.

Castle Ravenloft and Dungeons & Dragons

2010-11-16T08:29:00.002+13:00

I'd say about when I was 12 I tried to figure out Expert Dungeons & Dragons (blue box). I never properly got the hang of it. But it did set the stage for long enjoyment of games of all sorts. D&D has changed dramatically since then. Gary Gygax is dead. The mighty TSR publishing was bought by some unknown upstarted called Wizards of the Coast--a cheesy card game maker! WotC rose to lofty heights to be deftly devoured by massive Hasbro. D&D has progressed in to today's world of MMORPGs. WotC has even struggled to make D&D work and I think they have finally hit on the means to keep it going. TSR discovered that once you published your books and your target market had bought them... you were basically stuck. You had to find some excuse to print a new revision to have a new product to sell. Customers hated this and it mucked up the way the game was played. WotC has the same problem, but now that they have teamed up with Hasbro, a toy manufacturing giant, they realized they could pump out game accessories.

Now we see the market full of pre-painted plastic miniatures, game tokens, plastic fold-out maps, handy reference cards and we are sure to see more of these game aids. They let WotC keep a steady product stream without constant re-writes to the rules. Now we see another money-making spin off in to board games like Castle Ravenloft.

In the US, Castle Ravenloft retails for about $50--making it one of the most inexpensive "dense" games out there. The box is packed full of cardboard printed dungeon tiles, cards, plastic monsters/heroes, and tokens. All of these are immediately resusable by the "real" Dungeons & Dragons game (should you choose). This game works on the same basic mechanics of D&D only greatly simplified to be a board game. But it quite conveniently prepares the players for the jump to full RPGs by acquainting them with battle mechanics, movement, and map tactics. It is a fully cooperative game where no "Dungeon Master" is required. Everyone gets to be a player. It is really a brilliant game and product for WotC.

WotC has pushed their table top game to be more like the undeniably successful World of Warcraft MMORPG. Class roles are more regimented and level dependent powers are now ubiquiteous across all classes. But this is not a move without controversy. The departure from the D&D 3.5 rules is massive and essentially un-convertable. No old 3.5 character could really be transfered cleanly to the new rules. In the gulf an old/new publisher, Piazo, has created Pathfinder.

Pathfinder is a mini-step improvement on the D&D 3.5 rules. It follows all the same conventions with a few modifications. Piazo is the old publisher of Dungeon Magazine and has been around since the TSR days. Out of the blue, they appear to be taking the customers left behind by WotC. As a print publisher, they have cranked out dozens of new books full of glossy print and fantastic art. Piazo knows the print business. But will it endure? Who can say?

I bought Castle Ravenloft about a month ago and have played it over a dozen times with adult gamer friends and with the family at home. It is a great, fast, fun game to sit down to. I definite gateway game for those gamer dads trying to rase gamer children!

Game on!

Fanservice

2010-11-15T08:42:00.004+13:00

Oi, it's been a while. I've actually been doing lots of game related things and just too busy to catch up. I'll jump in at the end and work my way backward. So today, I wanted share a new word I discovered for a very old concept and stereotype... Fanservice. Fanservice is when a bit of media puts in a lot of typically female sexuality for no apparent reason other than to please its typically male audience. This is generally associated with anime and indeed it has literally hundreds of fine examples.

Sometimes the fanservice is light and generally adds to the story. In Ghost in the Shell there are several episodes where the darker characters are dealing with pleasure-bots in some fashion. These bots are displayed as eyecandy. But this is not strictly fanservice since the plot actually has something to do with the issue of sex trade as a bad thing. A better example in GitS is the variety of shots of Major Kusanagi who will appear in various otherwise professional settings in a form fitting teddy and boots. I tend to laugh at these scenes as none of the conservative characters in the series ever seem to notice. "Yeah, I am the Major. Yes, I am nearly naked. Now on to business." This doesn't happen in every scene or episode, so one would rate GitS as pretty light on the fanservice.

A better and completely over the top example would be the show I watched this weekend, Godannar (pictured above). OMG. Godannar is your basic "robots that can join together to smash giant monsters" story. There are a million of these in anime. But what makes Godannar stand out is the immense dose of fanservice. The female characters of the series all fill the full spectrum of roles from the Head of the Defense force to full robot pilots to lowly mechanics. They are given equal ground in terms of status and intellect, but wowzer... they also have giant bazooms that bounce fully independently and with a high degree of animation. No opportunity for a windblown upskirt shot is missed and I can't mention the gym workout scenes without blushing. The critical bit about fanservice is that it can't really be overtly erotic. The characters in Godannar never dwell on their sexuality or even imply that it occuring. The story is about the robots and the monsters... pay no attention to the perfectly heart-shaped booty in the frame. Say was that a hint of... uh... nevermind.

Godannar is good fun. It isn't cerebral. The emotional content is easily on par with the likes of Robotech or Pokemon. But it can't be beat as an example of high fanservice.

Game on!

Eve Online Planetary Interaction

2010-06-16T16:30:00.003+12:00

A few thoughts about Planetary Interaction...

I control 9 worlds now between 2 accounts.

What cycle time works best?

So far what I have seen is that using the 5 hour cycle times allows for far more benefit than other times. I can set one cycle just before bed, sleep for 8, set another cycle in the morning, work for 8 hours, set another cycle when I get home. It apears that running the 5 hour cycle even twice a day produces more raw material than the 24 hour cycle. The 96 hour cycle is pointless unless you're going on vacation.

What layout works best?

I piddled around with different builds, but what appears to create the maximum resources is to place 3-4 extractors in a tight group right on top of a resource hot spot. Delever thier material to a Launch Pad then route from the Lauch Pad to an adjacent Processor. Remember to route the Processor back to the Launch Pad. This will create a tight bundle of about 5-6 objects over a hot spot. With Advanced CC's you can have at least 3 groupings per planet--possibly 4 if you're happy with only 2-3 Extractors per group. You want to deliver to the Launch Pad first because (hopefully) your rate of extraction exceed your rate of manufacturing. Excess material routed to a full Processor is lost, the Launch Pad storage area acts as a buffer.

Why Launch Pads and not Storage Silos?

LP's can store 10,000 m3 while Storage Silos only get 5k. Yes, Silos use a lot less Command Center CPU, but nothing seems to really chew up CPU anyway. By not not even attempting to link far-flung groupings you save tons of Power allowing more Extractors and Processors--more ISK. Besides you can't get your goods out of a Silo and into your ship without a Launch Pad anyway. The Command Center launch feature only allows 500 m3 at a time. A word of caution though, each Launch Pad is 900,000 ISK--it is the most expensive PI object after the Command Center.

What about Stage 2+ goods?

My focus is producing basic raw materials for now. Until CCP removes the NPC seeded goods, there isn't much point in making or selling any PI materials. But in preparation I have made one of my planets a "factory" where I have a cluster of Stage 2 (Advanced) Processors. Once I gather all the raw materials from the other planets, I can Import them to my factory planet and make anything.

What do you think PI will do to the markets?

Well, already I can see folks buying up NPC seeded goods by the freighter load. Folks are expecting the prices to rise. For a while those that bloat themselves on trade goods may realize a profit. PI takes time and has some hard limits to what can be maximally produced. No one will be able to harvest mass quantities alone which means the market will be mostly dominated by small producers. These small quantities will encourage Traders to buy out whole regions and repost for slight mark-ups. The goods most likely to move in Empire are the POS fuels--Oxygen, Mechanical Parts, Robotics, Coolant, and Enriched Uranium.

What is interesting is what this will do to Empire markets. Now that 0.0 space can produce their own fuels, it will be unlikely that Alliances will come to Empire for fuels. Empire certainly won't be going to Nullsec for purchasing so the POS fuel market in Empire will be dependent on the owners of Empire towers... Setting up Empire towers is difficult and generally only used for Labs. They are also typically placed by Corps/Pilots who love industry anyway and will likely be making their own fuel! With demand reduced, I would not expect the Empire PI goods market to be much above cost (if at all).

I would predict that most ppl doing Planet harvesting will do it solely to supply their own needs--more out of convenience than need or cost.

What about Dust 514? Will I lose my investment?

Taking any guesses about what CCP may or may not do with DUST 514 are purely wild guesses. CCP has consistently talked up their cool expansions and then delivered only minimal features. While we can't predict what they may do, we can be pretty safe in predicting they won't deliver everything they have talked about. The second point to consider is Dust is probably 3-4 years away (2 at best). CCP is only now *advertising* for Dust 514 developers. Without a dev team even assembled, when it can be delivered is many, many moons away. Incarna was first advertised as Walking in Stations over 5 years ago and the last CCP announcement was that it will deliver *after* Dust! So CCP has a history of extremely long release time-lines.

So... in a nutshell... don't worry about it. We won't see impact for a long time.

What skills should I have?

Bare minimum to try PI would be: Remote Sensing 1, Planetology 3, Command Center Upgrades 3. That will allow you to scan all the planets in your current system, place *one* Improved Command Center, and play around with what it can do. But you can train all those skills in a day.

I would recommend Remote Sensing 4, Planetology 4, Adv. Planetology 2, CC Upgrades 4, and Planetary Interaction 4. This will take about 10 days, but it gives you 5 Advanced Command Centers and the ability to control them from quite a ways out. Masada manages planets in Rahab from Palas (about 4 hops out). I haven't played with the limits.

Gaming may Save the World!

2010-05-26T09:09:00.004+12:00

A co-worker of mine linked this TED video of a presentation about the potential impacts of online gaming...

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

The video is well worth a look. But a few highlights really stuck in my mind. In particular the factiod that a gamer kid will spend 10,000 hours playing video games by the time they are 21. This is just a random fuzzy number until you also know that 10,080 hours is the exact amount of time you will spend in school from 5th grade to 12th (or year 6 to 13 for you Euros). So most gamers will have spend as much time learning their games as they have spent learning about everything else... This creates a great many focused minds. If we tapped just tiny fractions of game time to teach a few key skills... well imagine what you could do.

I have often thought that if you could inject a little bit of the gaming fun in to the real-world work place you might find new ways to really spark people's motivations and creativity. I think any working professional can remember a time where they were forced to participate in some lame team building exercise... that's not the sort of work gaming I'm thinking of. But something you could really do day to day with the people you work with. People who play together often get along better. You have other ways to relate to the people you work with.

Jane didn't touch on other side effects. While sitting idle is not good for physical activity... it could be looked at as a way to reduce our "footprint" on the world. If we're playing at home more often, then we're not driving our cars or generating litter. If we learn to eat responsibly, then we might actually reduce the food we consume. These benefits are a stretch, but they'd make a good study. Of the 500 million gamers world wide... what is their footprint compared to non-gamers?

Interesting game fodder for thought... Game On, folks! Save the Planet.

What does roleplay (RP) mean in Eve Online?

2010-04-15T11:43:00.002+12:00

In the recent event of the Eve Universe, a player controlled roleplay alliance has lost a vast portion of space called Providence. I've written about these events before and talked about CVA, Ushra'Khan and AAA--all player alliances. Many players of Eve have commented that CVA's rebuttal of AAA's demands was "stupid". The logic behind these statements is that AAA is a much, much larger alliance and would mop the galactic floor with spilled CVA guts--which they have proceeded to do. These pilots are confused by CVA's motivations... why on Earth would the fools choose to fight AAA? CVA has said they have done it for "roleplay" reasons which has sparked a wave of bewilderment from the AAA community about the stupidity of roleplay as a reason and further that CVA has quite obviously "lost" so roleplay has failed. But that misses the whole point... Let me back up.

Eve is a very open ended game. You have pilots, skills, spaceships, lots and lots of industry, and a whole galaxy of solar systems to explore. You literally wake up in this world with no set goal. You get to decide what ships to fly, what goods to buy, and how to make your living in this world. Now maybe you're serious about your roleplay and create a back story for your pilot and you live life as the immortal "capsuleer" that all Eve pilots are... But even if you don't do this, to some degree, all your decisions are roleplay decisions. What did you want to do in the game? The game didn't lay out a path for you. You were not created a Mage in a static region with 250 quests to complete before you could advance to the next region... Your story will not be the same as any other player. All your choices have been a reflection of what you wanted to do, not forced down an alley of what "character class" you picked.

The CVA alliance is just an extension of this taken to the Alliance level. The leaders of the player created structure had decided they would control Providence as their own entity. They would fight to keep it "free" for all pilots to explore. They would fight against aggressors that disrupted their space and aggressors that would not honor their "right" to rule the region. No one at CCP Games gave them this right... they took it. When AAA appeared (yes, provoked, but that's not important here) CVA kept true to their vision and vowed to fight the aggressors. They knew they would likely lose, but it was more valuable to them to keep up their identity as CVA than to keep the region known as Providence. They did not acknowledge that AAA had any greater right to tell CVA what to do than anyone else. Of course, AAA has overwhelming force of arms and has demonstrated its power. While AAA laughs at CVA's "roleplay" decisions it is humorous to note that AAA itself decided it didn't like CVA's lack of respect (a very roleplay decision) and invaded Providence. For all the pundits hurled at roleplayers in Eve, we seem to not realize that all of us are roleplayers in Eve--some just write more fiction about it than others.

Enjoy the show folks. These events are what make Eve interesting. There will be no "Lich King" release to drive some sort of story in to Eve... the story is written every day by each of the pilots in New Eden.

Mandatory CTA's

2010-04-12T10:28:00.002+12:00

Okay, here's the reason why "mandatory cta" policies are stupid, doomed to fail, and will contribute to the end of your alliance...

A Call To Action/Arms is a generic term that basically says, "We need a big fleet for X purpose." A successful CTA needs to have a clear Goal, a Time Frame, good comms, and a specific request for ship types. It is important to note here that not all CTA's need to be combat oriented. Sometimes they can be mining operations or Freighter escorts, etc. While some number of combat ships is usually required, it doesn't have to be the focus. What I really have a problem with is the mandatory Combat CTA. A fleet specifically needed (probably) to hold a system or take a system.

All nullsec alliances will need to fight for their space. This will mean fleets of a few hundred pilots. Fights at this scale need to be carefully balanced. The time/place of these battles needs to be carefully coordinated. Generals and Fleet Commanders must know what their strategy is. A war must be fought by those with the capacity to deal damage or prevent damage being dealt. The issue here is the word "mandatory". This isn't an optional sort of word. It basically is interpreted as, "if you're online, get in to the PvP fleet." It is usually accompanied by trollish shouts in comms to "GET IN THE FUCKING FLEET YOU MORONS/COWARDS/ASSHOLES!!!!" Let's break this down.

Lets say you have a modest corporation of 100 members (as listed in your corp details). This probably means you have betwen 50-75 real pilots, with the rest being alts/slaves. Out of these roughly 75 pilots, about 20% will be actually online at any one time; so 15. Chances are, anyone else online is afk or several alts/slaves. So... now lets say your Alliance has 20 such corps. This means that *at peak* normal activity you'll have 300 pilots online that might be both a real person and active. Of these 300, I'm to say maybe 75% will be able to field a "good" or "standard" fleet combat ship. Of those 225 pilots, about 75% of them will actually have that ship to use. This is now about 170 pilots. This is about what you can expect from 2000 man alliance in it's normal activity timezone without special effort. The downside here is that it will *appear* that you have 300-500 pilots online... Screaming at the online player base for 2 hours about joining the fleet is not going to move this number up by much. It will also completely demotivate your participating pilots, unimpress your future fleet pilots, and will likely inspire many other pilots to quit.

I guess the point here isn't that "mandatory" is bad, but more accurately, setting the trolls loose in your comms is bad. If your goal is to entice more players to your combats, then it should be something that is fun and looked forward to. You want them to be excited to particpate in the unique experience of Eve fleet combat. But that experience is going to be terrible if the pilot goes in unprepared, in a badly fit ship, to sit for hours before being wiped out in the first bombing volley. Realistically, you don't want more than handful of pilots without the propper ships and/or experience. Too many "green" troops and you'll suffer from chaotic commands, bad tactics and likely get routed. This is also probably not one of your goals and another reason why "mandatory" participation can actually hurt you more than help.

If you haven't seen this Alliance policy first hand, let's imagine it. You're a good pilot, with the ISK to toss away on a PvP ship (T1, fully insured), and you're online doing your Making ISK thing. Suddenly an Alliance mail pops up saying an outlying system is being invaded by The Bad Guys with a 200 man fleet. Sov is on the line. We need a Mandatory CTA. The fleet joins go out; you're forming up now to leave in 1 hour. It will take a while to get a 200 man response fleet together, shipped, and moving to the destination. You're a good member and you drop what you're doing to respond. Within about 15 minutes you're at the rally point and ready to fight. Of course you'll have to wait a while for other folks to assemble. But already you have 90 in fleet (remember you'll likely peak out at 170). Now the trolling begins. Troll Butt #1 is spouting in Alliance randomly singling out pilots not in fleet and calling them assholes and fuckwads for not joining the fleet. Troll has no idea who these pilots are, but they are not in fleet so he feels allowed to abuse them. Most of the pilots he's abusing are mining/market alts with no pvp ships. Some are brand new pilots who don't know what's going on. Already this is a bad situation. What makes this *even worse* is if Troll Butt is the Fleet Commander or some other "voice of authority" for the Alliance. You have to endure 45 minutes of Troll Butt abusing alliance members, some of them are in your Corp. They're afk, leaving in 10 minutes, new or otherwise legitimately unable to be of value to the fleet. Even as you try to explain this, you're smacked down for being a corp of carebears and noobs. Boy are you inspired to help now! Ready to give your 100 million to a ship loss for the Alliance? How about all your buddies? Think they'll be ready to join the next op? What now happens is a slow attrition of attendence... oops! I thought we wanted more attendence! Each time fewer pilots will want to join.

Let's say for the sake of argument, that you do get all 300 online pilots in the fleet. This means you have some pilots running 2 ships, some pilots in tackle frigates, some pilots is strange ships/uninsured ships/bad fittings, some have no comms. So about 150 of your pilots are gimped (remember some are running 2 clients and basically give you 2 gimped pilots in place of 1 combat ready pilot). So again, you've *hurt* your combat effectivenes with 100% partcipation in mandatory CTA. If if you ignore the stupidity of dual clients, you'll be adding about 100 pilots in ships of little combat value. When the first fleet to fleet fighting engages, most of these 100 pilots will die within seconds. Many of them will lose 150 million ISK T2 ships with no insurance. Most of them will walk away thinking fleet combat sucks and will just make sure they're not online for the next CTA.

So now that you've managed to force a large percentage of your Alliance pilots to log off for CTA's... now the war heats up. CTA's are falling every weekend and sometimes during the week. Since these pilots now won't participate, they get frustrated about being unable to play and they quit your Alliance. Suddenly your markets dry up (a lot of these non-combat pilots were making goods or mining). The reduction in pilots hurts corp taxes, hurts the ability of corps to pay for sovereignty, and makes the hard task of holding space harder. Your alliance may not be falling apart yet, but it is stretching at the seams. You're not working together and most people are either A) mad because everyone else is not fighting or B) mad because they can't ever make isk to cover costs/replacements. This won't go on for long before you start to see whole corps leave or, even worse, simply switch sides. Every loss chips away at your pilot base and reduces the number of pilots (now war weary with no relief) who can fight. This is the Alliance death spiral.

"Mandatory" CTA's don't work. They fail to increase participation, they fail to increase combat effectiveness, and they fail to keep your Alliance healthy. You can expect pilots to rationally respond. You need to trust and respect members. These members will give more to the Alliance than any pilot "troll whipped" in to attendence.

Good Hunting, folks!

Re-Post of Eve in-game objects.

2010-03-25T20:17:00.004+13:00

These links will only work from the in-game Eve browser...

Showinfo explorer - short php app allowing you to check any showinfo link with given id.
Database explorer - another short php app allowing you to browse all EvE items.
Useful info (commonly found in bios) - so you know what to tank
More about Invention >> - skills and items needed to make tech II breakthrough
More about COSMOS >> - handy info for COSMOS runners
More about Exploration >> (coming soon)
More about Mining >> - what roids give what minerals and so on
More about Salvaging >> (coming soon)
Tech II implant list - all about them

Implants

Republic Special Ops Field Enhancer - Gamma
Aurora Alpha
Aurora Beta
Aurora Gamma
Aurora Delta
Aurora Epsilon
Aurora Omega

Trinity new implants:
Low-grade Edge Alpha
Low-grade Edge Beta
Low-grade Edge Gamma
Low-grade Edge Delta
Low-grade Edge Epsilon
Low-grade Edge Omega

There is few more implant classes:
Low-grade Virtue Alpha
Low-grade Harvest Alpha
Low-grade Nomad Alpha
Low-grade Centurion Alpha

New Agent Offer items:
Syndicate Gas Cloud Harvester
Syndicate 1600mm Reinforced Steel Plates
Syndicate Mobile Small Warp Disruptor
Sisters Radar Quest Probe
Sisters Scan Probe Launcher
ORE Strip Miner

You mix up components like these with normal drones:
Elite Drone AI
Drone Synaptic Relay Wiring
Drone Capillary Fluid
Drone Cerebral Fragment
Drone Tactical Limb
Drone Epidermal Shielding Chunk
Drone Coronary Unit

'Integrated' Hobgoblin
'Integrated' Hammerhead
'Integrated' Ogre
if you add even more rogue technology you get
'Augmented' Hobgoblin
'Augmented' Hammerhead
'Augmented' Ogre
Mining mission ores:
Banidine
Augumene
Mercium
Lyavite
Pithix
Green Arisite
Oeryl
Geodite
Polygypsum
Zuthrine

Funny stuff (Easter eggs)
Perpetual Motion Unit I
Villard Wheel
and now: Thermodynamics
just read all the descriptions :) Great easter egg.
Grace Tarsis
Body Bag
STOP
Powdered Cubensis
Pillaging 101
The Little Pirate That Could
17 Successful Torture Techniques
Think Tank
Me, Myself and Plunder

Wiretap Plant
Quafe Unleashed formula
Toxic Gunk
Rotgut
Smurgleblaster
Achuran White Song Birds
Armor of Rouvenor
Tournament Observation
Melted Snowball MMV
Snowball Launcher

Medals:
Alliance Tournament Gold Medal
Alliance Tournament Cup
Novice Medal
Intermediate Medal
Legends Medal
Onyx Heart of Valor

Aidonis Honorary Fellow Medallion
Ancient Amarrian Relic

Faction ships:

Shuttles
Goru's Shuttle
Apotheosis
Interbus shuttle

Blood Raiders
Cruor
Ashimmu
Bhaalgorn
Serpentis
Daredevil
Vigilant
Vindicator

Guristas
Worm
Gila
Rattlesnake

Angel
Dramiel
Cynabal
Machariel

Sansha Nation
Succubus
Phantasm
Nightmare

Caldari
Caldari Navy Hookbill
Osprey Navy Issue
Caracal Navy Issue

Raven Navy Issue

Amarr
Amarr Navy Slicer
Augoror Navy Issue
Omen Navy Issue
Apocalypse Navy Issue
Apocalypse Imperial Issue
Armageddon Imperial Issue

Gold Magnate
Silver Magnate
Minmatar
Republic Fleet Firetail
Scythe Fleet Issue
Stabber Fleet Issue
Tempest Fleet Issue
Tempest Tribal Issue

Mimir
Freki

Gallente
Gallente Navy Comet
Exequror Navy Issue
Vexor Navy Issue
Guardian-Vexor
Opux Luxury Yacht

Megathron Navy Issue
Megathron Federal Issue

Jovian
Fury
Lynx
Medusa
Chaos
Ghoul

Wraith
Specter
Eidolon
Enigma
Visitant
Phantom
SOCT 1
SOCT 2
SOCT Cruiser

ISD / GM ships

Polaris inspector Frigate
Polaris Centurion
Polaris Legatus Frigate
Polaris Centurion Frigate
...GM weapons and mods
GM Cloak
GM Ultra Mega Super Death Ray
GM ECM Burst

Industrial tutorial ships

Civilian Amarr Shuttle
Civilian Caldari Shuttle
Civilian Gallente Shuttle
Civilian Minmatar Shuttle
Trinity new rigs:

Mines (removed from game)
Python Mine Blueprint
Anaconda Mine Blueprint
Cobra Mine Blueprint
Asp Mine Blueprint

News from the Front: Providence

2010-03-09T15:59:00.000+13:00

Fighting continued in the border systems of Providence over the weekend, but no news of further sov advancement has come forth. It appears that Atlas has stalled for a few days. Fighting is still wide spread throughout the region. 50 man roaming gangs are common. Small capital fleets appear and disappear in lightning "hot drop" strikes. The general impact of such warfare is complete disruption of most activities in the region.

In such times, careful ratting or complex running is about the only thing you can do. Mining assets are too slow and too vulnerable to cyno spawned attacks. 10 man gangs can not cope with 50 man gangs. Undefended POS towers are quickly disabled. Any sort of Freighter op is right out. Providence commerce is slowing to a crawl.

In LFA, fleeing corps have left systems empty. Empty systems can not provide intel and empty stations receive few goods. Plus there is an ugly downside to NRDS policy combined with allowing Neutral pilots station access... Neutral "alts" can dock and tie up station resources (mfg slots) and engage in market warfare. These stations can then be used to resupply the enemy.

LFA's pocket is under dire threat of collapse. LFA will either disband leaving their systems unclaimed over night, or worse, they may be forced to sign up with invasionary forces; switching all 6 systems effectively to Southern Coalition control overnight.

CVA is on the ropes. Aralis, their Executor, is battered daily with pleas for help, guidance, or anything that can materially impact the aggression. But the only responses are oh so similar to those spoken by war torn Empire corporations for ages... "Keep docked, watch intel, wait out the storm. try not to lose too many ships."

The good news is that still only a tiny fraction of what CVA holds has actually changed hands and the assaults continue to weaken. Perhaps in another 30 days all will be quiet again, but until then, Providence is descending in to 0.0 violence equal to that seen in any null sec war in New Eden.

Eve Online Drugs

2010-03-01T12:16:00.003+13:00

This was hard stuff to come by as nothing seemed to be written in detail about it yet.

What I have discovered about Gas Harvesting...

Gas harvesting is a means to obtain the raw materials necessary to Booster production. Gas harvesting requires a gas cloud which must be discovered via Exploration as a LADAR site; typically you'll only find the right kinds of clouds in low sec / null sec.

Gas harvesting requires the Gas Harvesting skill which requires Industry 4 and Mining 1. The skill book costs between 36 and 40 million ISK. Each level of the skill allows you to fit one Gas Harvester I module. It trains fairly quickly requiring only 15 minutes at level one.

Each harvester module mines 1 unit of gas per 30 second cycle. The harvester module is considered a "turret" which prevents fitting the module on a Mining Barge which has no official turret slots. These modules seem to run about 9 million ISK each.

Each unit of gas (this might vary) is 10 m3 of space.

Gas clouds yield various types of "cytoserocin". Each type is a fundamental component of a different type of Booster. This should not be confused with "mykocerosin" which is used for Synth Boosters. Synth boosters appear to do the same sort of the things as "regular" boosters, but to a lesser effect and with no side effects--at least I didn't see any on Frentix synth boosters.

Gas --> Booster
Amber --> Blue
Azure --> Soothsayer
Celadon --> Exile
Golden --> Crash
Lime --> Frentix
Malachite --> Mindflood
Vermillion --> X-Instinct
Viridian --> Drop

Each type of cytoserocin must be combined with some other simple components like Megacyte or Water to create Simple Biochemical Reactions. This process requires a Medium Biochemical Reactor (POS). Once you have a reaction like Standard Drop Booster Reaction you can fabricate a unit of Standard Drop Booster.

Creating boosters requires the Drug Manufacturing skill. This skill costs 20 million ISK, but is generally only available in NPC 0.0 space. It will also require a BPO/BPC for the booster in question. As boosters/drugs are illegal in Empire, making them requires a POS manufacturing facility (Drug Lab). They will be confiscated by gate Customs Agents. BPO/BPC can be found in COSMOS complexes else they can be bought on Contract. Production of Boosters seems rare and thus the demand for the BPC's seems also low.

I did see a 1000 run BPC for Synth Frentix Booster in Jita for 8 million ISK. Each dose would require 17 "Pure" Frentix Booster (reaction). Each reaction takes 40 units of Lime gas... so 1 Dose of booster equals 680 units of gas. With 3 harvesters... that's 226 cycles... 30 seconds per cycle is 113 minutes or just under 2 hours of gas mining to get 1 dose.

Gas mining mission example: Like Drones to a Gas Cloud

Mine 425 (4250 m3) units of unusable cytoserocin AND kill all drones. There are only 4 waves of drones. The largest is cruiser sized (no battleship sized).

Award: 1.3 million ISK
Bonus: 1.3 million ISK

Standing Increase: 4.8% (will vary with your skills)

Recommendation: Start with a Battleship fitted with one or two harvesters and your favorite weapons. Kill the 4 waves. As you mine, remember to refresh your can. Alternately, after you kill the waves, swap to a hauler and AFK mine. Remember it takes 30 seconds per cycle... so 2 units per minute per harvester... 1 harvester means you're spending the next 4 hours mining gas.

My real recommendation is (even if you have these skills), just skip this mission. Complain about it loudly to CCP.

War! What is it good for?

2010-02-26T13:33:00.002+13:00

Nothing... say it again! *killing the music*

Here’s the problem with Empire war declarations in Eve Online in 6 words. Most players do not like it. That is really my only gripe about them. If you have a game that you want to grow then you should be somewhat responsive to what most of your players want; in particular, your subscription paying customers.

I know Eve is full of PvP style players. So what about them? They can PvP *anytime* they want in Low Security or Nullsec with other players who know the risks and want to PvP.

Players who never leave Empire do so because they don’t like PvP. I never have understood why it has been so important for CCP to “prove those carebears wrong” by forcing them in to PvP through the Empire war declaration system. It seems that the developers of Eve are of the opinion that the only way to *fully* appreciate Eve Online is to be dragged in to player combat willing or not.

My contention is that every player in Eve that stays long enough will eventually find their way to player combat in their own time. There is no need to make it a requirement of all players.

Alternatively, re-work the wardec system so that corps can better control if they can be targeted or perhaps let them buy their way out of it officially through Concord rather than by direct extortion.

More often than not, pirate wardecs are fabricated by a small handful of PvP experienced pilots so that they can pick off other players with little or no PvP experience. Nobody enjoys this style of game play, but CCP seems view it as sacrosanct. The rights of bullying player *must* be preserved at the cost of the majority of other players who just want to play the game peacefully with their friends.

My characters live out in 0.0 space. I am prepared to deal with combat. I choose it and have learned to live with the impacts. But if I were CEO of CCP, I’d still create truly PvP-free area for pilots somewhere in Eve. People pay $15 USD a month to play the game they want to play. It just makes business sense to try to give everybody somewhere to play what they want. Hardcore PvP players would not be impacted by being unable to attack purely Empire based corps.

Now consider that very long term players can probably survive in Eve on ISK and thus avoid paying some (or all) monthly fees. So really, the only folks giving you money are the newer players. Even more reason to provide an experience compelling to new players.

Master and Servant

2010-02-11T10:26:00.003+13:00

These are blog entries from a while ago and make up multiple posts. It is a bit of history of my time in the Khanid Trading Syndicate as told by my lovely alt, Porter.

My master came to me some years ago. I was newly awakened and fresh in my first frigate. He was tall and charming, but not imposing. His sense of humour was devilish and heretic. I was young with no resources. He was worldly and flush with ISK. He had one goal—to fly the Gallente carriers in the wilds of space. It would take years of training and billions of credits, but it was his goal. He would fund my education, buy my ships, and provide my defence. I would manage his assets, dominate local markets, and mine. The deal was struck and so I became the servant of my master, Masada.

The years have passed. We have ranged across all of Eve together. We have fought wars and constructed mighty Outposts. At times we were broken and forced to flee. But always together we have recovered. We would mine from cruisers until we could build battleships. When we could not mine, he fought on the side of who ever would pay. I sold the bounty across the stars.

Our wealth grew. Soon my master was training with the elite even among immortals. His skills expanded to the limits of our technology. As he drew closer to the carrier skills he became a paragon of combat. At first a Dominix appears humble inside a fleet, but soon it was obvious that he was becoming undefeatable. He rose through the ranks of the Federal Navy to the highest status.

When finally all the necessary skills were consumed, we began the last financial drive to purchase a billion ISK asset—to at last claim the title, Capital Pilot.

I scoured the markets across a thousand light-years to find the right contract. In the span of a few seconds our wealth was spent and Masada flew out to claim his prize. The Thantos is vast barely contained inside a station hanger. The green Galente banners flapped triumphant at the podding ceremony. My master, Masada Akiva, become a Carrier Pilot. I, Porter Thorne, the servant, stood proud and sang the songs of tribute.

I have opened the vastness of space to my master many times since. I have given my sacrificial clones to him. In return, all that I ask is granted. My own skills have grown. We have grown together. He leads, I follow. The ISK pours from his hands to mine—master and servant. What could be better than this immortality shared?

With my Master’s goal attained, he grew ever more despondent. The bureaucratic challenges of such a massive ship seemed to lack the glory he imagined. ISK rang hollow. The vast emptiness of low sec space was droll, inhospitable, and choked with spies like cockroaches in a freighter of abandoned food.

We slept.

Idle we remained until my Master’s dreams returned to space. Slowly he was lulled from slumber by the promise of conquest, battle, and blood. New machines had been created in our absence. Wormholes uncovered to realms yet unseen. But most of all, the rallying cry of the Alliance to tackle the most difficult of missions known to the four Empires. The might of the Thanatos would be tested. The metal of man, steel and drone would be tempered in the flames of pitched combat. Lives would be risked and lost.

Masada awakened.

Crew frantically readied ships long docked. Weapons checked, engines fired, and all systems online. Once again the mighty Dominix sailed with its bay full of the mostly deadly drones of the Gallente Federation… and the enemy bled. My Master left behind fields of wreckage. He brought home the massive spoils of war. The ISK flowed once more.

Soon we will fly in to the lawless systems. Soon the majesty of Khanid Trade Syndicate capital ships will appear. Soon the enemies of the Khanid Royal Family will despair at the sight of the onrushing fleet. Each primary target will glow like a mini-sun and shatter. Soon, my brothers and sisters… soon.

The battle was joined.

The call from the Royal Khanid Navy came for the Khanid Trade Syndicate to smash a local uprising of Sansha. An invasionary force of over 100 ships threatened to destabilize the zone. Eleven of the bravest and most battle hardened of the KTS pilots answered the call. A fleet of eleven against a hundred. Arretu and Masada lead the small force deep in low sec. Vikari summoned the mighty Thanatos piloted by my Master. The iron of KTS would be forged in to steel.

Masada warped in directly bisecting two forces of Sansha ships. Each side supported by withering support towers and two Energy Neutralizer towers. Few capitals are destroyed by damage; they die from lack of capacitor. But soon after engaging the remaining 10 pilots warped in to wipe the battlefield clear of Sansha opposition. Towers fell, hulls crushed, and in the end not a single Sansha ship escaped. KTS did not lose a single ship.

KTS delivered a perfect victory to the Royal Khanid Navy. The mighty eleven shared in the reward.

More battles would follow. There would be more carriers in the field. The strength of KTS is growing. Khanid quakes from the shockwave of our fleet. We stand tested, proven, and strong.

***

Over a year ago my Master and I considered our futures. His goal was the Thanatos which we would complete first, but then what? Immortals with ISK to spare we plotted out a few strategic investments. One of these was the Providence.

Of all freighters of the four factions, the Amarr Providence is, to our eyes, the most noble of ships. It is slow, yet full of purpose in its motion and graceful in warp. It is a ship abuzz with the activity of industry. From a pilot’s view it is the simplest of ships to control, but the sheer size of it requires large crew of engineers, loaders, and support staff. A small city of complexity encapsulated in a sleek form.

Of course to obtain such a ship required a vast investment. A sum equal to that of the Thanatos. But we were patient and slowly built up again. We found a Providence for sale in Amarr Prime and we pooled our resources to buy it. We seem to make ISK faster than we can mine minerals so an outright purchase made more sense.

As time has gone by, my role has shifted. Initially, I was trained to mine for the resources necessary to maintain my Master’s carrier. But as it turned out, once acquired it was simply easier to buy fuel than mine for it. I therefore began to make small courier runs in a covert ops. The cov ops grew to a Recon and this grew to Heavy Assault Cruisers and now it seems the last jump to Battleship is logical. So the next step in our plan was for me to train up to the Raven.

Why the Raven, you might ask? The answer is curious. I am Minmatar after all. I was already trained for the Typhoon. But the answer lies in another story of my Master…

Long ago when Masada was freshly awakened he cast his eye out to the wide stars and contemplated his place in it. The Gallente favour drones and it would seem in the mystery of ship designs that missiles and drones do not mix. A pilot must choose. Masada, thinking of his carrier someday, chose drones, but always he admired the utility of missiles. If he was going to fund my education, then he wanted me to walk the path he could not take. And so, in his decision was also mine. A Raven it would be.

We sold off some of our other ships—the Typhoon, a Hyperion, a Cyclone. All good ships, but simply ships we were not using. But then there was a surprise. Masada was not content with me flying the Raven and instead insisted on obtaining Caldari Navy Raven. A more battle hardened design. Usually reserved for the most dedicated of Caldari loyalists, I don’t want to know exactly what deals were struck to sell one of these prized ships to a Gallente and a Minmatar. But here it sits in my hanger in Palas. Of course in Khanid I use it nearly exclusively in service to the Royal Khanid Navy and thus by proxy to the Amarr Empire—still I appreciate the irony of flying Caldari war machines and Amarr industrial ships.

Now again we work towards building our finances up. We have retained a great deal of our assets. It is only a matter of time.

***

I just discovered the announcement of my Master's medal of valour from the Battle of Palas in the Volare War. He had not mentioned it to me. While I usually keep on top of the alliance news, this item had slipped my attention with the flurry of activity around the ending of the war. I asked him about it, but he only shrugged and said, "It was nothing."

I asked him to show it to me. He seemed embarassed, but went to the office safe and pulled out the rimu wood box which lay on top of his folded Gallente Federal Navy uniform. Inside lay the shining Khanid Bronze Star under ribbons of grey and red. The system name, Palas, was etched on the top bronze bar.

"This is quite lovely." I said admiring the fine craftmanship. "We should get it mounted for the office."

He only shook his head, "Nah... All I did was shoot what Tamon told me to shoot. It was a clean fight... That battle went well."

The emphasis he placed on "that" sent a small chill through me. More than once I had helped my Master through the shock of pod loss--jerking awake and flailing in a new body as the old one perished cold in space. Wars are unavoidable in Eve. Losses can not be prevented. I recalled our long journey to Khanid... the endless wars of null security space... the fall of the BRUCE empire... the expulsion from FREGE. Only names now of lost and forgotten alliances.

Later that night I reviewed our combat logs and counted down the ships lost. So many ships. Thousands of lives... Next to each entry I discovered a strange icon. Curious, I activated it. It was a media pack file containing various stills, video and recordings from the crew of the lost ships. Their notes were brief, but still managed to tell part of the story of those souls that had served with the Capsuleer Masada Akiva. None of the images showed my Master with the crew--for this never happens. A Capsuleer must not hesitate in a decision. The sacrifice of one crew may mean the salvation of dozen other ships. Distance is a common defense. Thus it is unusual to find such a personal collection in the combat log of a Capsuleer.

I found myself memorizing the details of faces, piecing together stories, and consciously willing myself to remember these souls. Perhaps they are gone from this universe... but my memory is immortal. None shall truly die that serve my Master. This is our promise.

***

The days slip past quietly like the silent ticks of old atomic clocks--peaceful days. The last war fades from our memory as the business of mining and accounting grows. My master is deep in study realizing his most current goal. In just a few weeks he will have the skills to fly every class of ship save the great Titans. The last few skills are long and he scarcely leaves his hanger.

As for myself, I am a bit unsettled without obvious clear directives. I did recently complete Industrial Command Ship training. I can then fly Masada’s Orca on request. My leadership skills do not match his, but at least I can move it to orbit as necessary. With no other pressing goals in mind, I have fallen back to raising my shield skills—always handy.

I acquired a Minmatar Maelstrom a week or so ago. While I shifted skills to favour Caldari missiles some time ago, I quickly found this ship to be intriguing. It seemed to be a fine gunship. I caught Masada admiring it in the hanger. He held most of the basic skills to fly it and I couldn’t help but offer it to him. My Navy Raven was by far a better fit for me.

My master was greatly pleased and quickly took the “Projected Revenue” out of dock and in to combat. The combined damage of the 8 grouped 1400 mm cannons was impressive. While it did not have near the staying power or the sustained damage dealing capacity of Masada’s Dominix (the “Core Rear Admiral”), it never the less was enjoyable to fly. I think he enjoyed flying a modern ship of the line compared to the undeniably ugly Dominix. But after a few days of play, he went back to the old workhorse Gallente battleship. “Soon”, he said, “After I complete these last few Gallente ships I will return to shield skills, Artillery and that Maelstrom… besides it will be good cross training for that Vindicator we looked at last month…” I arched my eyebrows at the thought of another billion ISK ship in our collection, but I only sighed. What can you do with such a man?

A newer corpmate has decided to make his fortune as an ice miner. As it turned out, I had a Mackinaw sitting idle for some months in Gallente space. I had always intended to come back to it some day and mine fuel for my Master’s Thanatos, but somehow it always just seemed easier to buy what I needed. Thus I had an asset and Navoker had a need. A deal was struck for 900 blocks of Blue Ice in exchange for the Mackinaw. I then used my Providence to return the blocks to Palas where I’m sure we will distribute some portion of the products to the market and keep plenty for my Master’s needs.

These are our quiet, peaceful days filled with long freighter runs, ice mining, and training. May they last a long time.

~Porter Thorne, Servant of Masada Akiva
(An accounting of life in Empire until our departure to Providence 6 months ago)

War For-EVE-r

2010-02-08T11:37:00.001+13:00

Warfare in Providence continues as -A- and Ushra'Khan stab at the heart of CVA space in a solar system known as 9UY4-H. Few reading this will know anything about the significance of this system. In the begining of the racial war between CVA and U'K, Providence was held by both sides. Both honored the convention that pilots of neutral standing would be allowed to fly unmolested. In these days the concept of sovereignty was entirely different. If you had towers in a system, you owned it and you could build an Outpost in that system.

Outposts are eternal. They can never be destroyed, but they can be lost (transferred). In those early days of Ushra'Khan they erected an Outpost that was named Unity Station. They held it for a long time until CVA broke the accords of the war and took Unity Station from Ushra'Khan. That station resided in solar system 9UY4-H. U'K are now close to reclaiming the station of their birth. The fervor is fanatic. To place ones self between Ushra'Khan and Unity Station is suicide.

As for myself, life goes one in CVA. The strategic significane of 9Uy4-H is not muted by use of Jump Bridges. We no longer have to travel through directly connected systems and can quite happily bypass 9UY indefinitely. My area of Providence has no need to travel to distant 9UY anyway. I have re-shipped and now seek to replensh my wallet. This will be slow going in the war, but in Eve all things are accomplished in time.

Game On!

The Politics of Eve

2010-02-03T12:53:00.001+13:00

I would like to write about a bit of Eve history, but the whole story would take far too long for one humble blog post. You could perhaps gleen from other posts that my corportation has moved in to the null security region of New Eden (the galaxy that makes up Eve Online) known as Providence. We joined an alliance known as a Holder; a vassel of Curatores Veritats Alliance (CVA). We are therefore at war with Ushra'Khan and their ally AAA (Against All Authorities). But these words are probably mostly meaningless to those who are not pilots of Eve.

This part of the big difference between Eve Online and other morgs. There were no "quests" sending us to Providence. The structure of the Holders was not created by the designers. The rationale behind the epic warfare was not drafted by a mission writer. Providence is merely an uncontrolled region like a dozen others. But it has been made special by the creativity of the players. A long time ago... in a galaxy far, far away...

A band of pilots decided to create context behind the cold combat of Eve. One side took up the banner of CVA as an extension of the Amarr Empire (one of the 4 developer created races of Eve). The other side took up banner of Ushra'Khan, a Minmatar faction sworn to fight all Amarr everywhere. They devided up Providence as a region where both sides could play out the drama of Order vs Chaos. The history of the CVA/Ushra'Khan War was born.

Over time, CVA grew in power and upset the balance in Providence. They cast out Ushra'Khan and took the whole of the region. But so vast an area could not be controlled effectively by one alliance. The Holders were created as subserviant alliances to CVA to maintain Providence and up hold its goals. The principle goal being to allow pilots outside the alliance who were not lawless to use Providence openly and without fear of aggression from CVA or the Holders. This principle has made Providence the single most developed section of 0.0 security space known in New Eden. But Ushra'Khan did not go quietly in to the night.

The war never ended and is still fought today. But today, Ushra'Khan has allied with the current undisputed force in Eve, Against All Authorities. AAA and UK have come to Providence and now threaten to destroy CVA and the Holders... The move was not unprovoked. CVA masterminded an attack on AAA timed to take advantage of a weakness in AAA. But once AAA recovered, they turned all their terrible power to Providence and delivered a series of blows to the Holders. The culmination of this was a massive battle at an edge system called D-GTMI. This battle will forever be remembered as the worst massacre of pilots in the most one-sided victory every seen in New Eden. The after-shock of this tragedy has shaken the resolve of several Holders and we are at the brink of Civil War in Providence. The Holders ignoring the will of CVA while AAA and Ushra'Khan batter at the gates. It is a time of darkness... There will be betrayal, death, savagery, and chaos.

No other morg can offer a story arch more rich and more meaningful.

See you in space!
Game On!

EVE News

2010-01-19T14:06:00.002+13:00

Here is a recent player generated news report on the fighting in Eve Online.

CONCORD Outer Region Political Summary (CORPS) Briefing

>>DED CORPS BRIEFING Y111.12.10/Y112.01.15
>>TO: MEMBER NATIONS – CONCORD ASSEMBLY – DED WATCH COMMANDERS
>>STATUS: DECLASSIFIED
>>APPROVED FOR RELEASE
>>BEGIN

Updates

The past month has quite literally seen the outer regions of New Eden catch fire as several military campaigns began within days of each other in the first week of the new year. The final weeks of December saw null-sec diplomatic machinations reach a fever pitch as old allies formerly broke off ties and new political coalitions emerged to take advantage of the chaos.

Chief among these has been the seemingly unstoppable march of IT Alliance across the Fountain region. Internal issues in Pandemic Legion ally Sons of Tangra alliance led to sovereignty going neutral in the strategic outpost system of Y-2ANO. The morning of 3 January saw over 1300 capsuleers fighting for control of the system, with elements of Goonswarm, the Northern Coalition and Against ALL Authorities present, among others.

The battle ended heavily in IT and their allies favor, with over forty Goonswarm and Pandemic Legion capital ships destroyed. Most telling was the loss of four Pandemic Legion Titan-class ships. To put the scale of this battle in its proper perspective, it should be noted no less than fifteen IT Alliance Titans were accounted for on the battlefield alongside hundreds of other allied and enemy capital ships. While these numbers make any official report nearly fruitless, it can be estimated that both the loss of life and financial impact of this battle easily exceed any previously recorded in the history of New Eden.

The fall of Y-2ANO signaled the effective end of organized resistance in Fountain. IT Alliance now holds 10 outposts in the region and is currently taking control of all the region's lucrative moon mining locations. Additionally, reports coming in just last night indicate that IT has started to move into the Delve region with the intent of removing Goonswarm.

In the southeast, the Catch region has seen several battles as a territorial dispute has long-time neighbors Against ALL Authorities [AAA] and Curatores Veritatis Alliance [CVA] clashing repeatedly. CVA ally, Libertas Fidelitas Alliance, began dropping sovereignty claim markers in Catch just over a week ago in four strategic systems near the AAA-held gateway system of HED-GP. What started seemingly as a simple probing attack has now escalated into a full scale border war, with both sides calling in allies to bolster their already not-insignificant numbers.

AAA's efforts to counter attack have thus far focused on the system of SV5-8N, which was wrested back to AAA control just yesterday. With three more Catch systems still under Libertas Fidelitas control, it seems unlikely that this conflict will cease anytime soon. Public statements from CVA and their allies have been vague in terms of their actual territorial ambitions but very specific about AAA's friendly relationship with longtime CVA nemesis Ushra'Khan. Speculation is rampant as to what the long-term effects of the CVA-led incursion into what has traditionally been acknowledged as AAA space will be.

Catch is not the only area of space that has AAA's attention. Along with allies Systematic Chaos, C0ven and Ushra'Khan, AAA has begun an invasion of Querious starting with an attempt to take 49-U6U from Goonswarm. Fighting in the system has been very heavy but control of the system still remains firmly in Goonswarm's hands. It remains to be seen what effect IT Alliance's incursions into Delve and the CVA incursions into Catch will have on this particular front with respect to both Goons and AAA's commitment.

The northern region of Geminate continues to be a source of conflict as an invasion force led by Atlas Alliance and Solar Fleet. While Geminate's primary sovereignty holder is Wildly Inappropriate Alliance, they have seen massive backing from both Razor Alliance and Morsus Mihi of the Northern Coalition and neighbors Majesta Empire. Until recently, Goonswarm had also made appearances to assist against the invaders.

The primary focus of Atlas and Solar Fleet has been to gain a foothold in the region by attempting to take the outpost in Y8R-XZ. After nearly three weeks of fighting this was accomplished on the 9th of January, with Solar Fleet taking sovereignty of the system. Atlas and Solar Fleet's next move seems to be attempting to expand their beachhead in Geminate by taking the adjacent outpost system of 04-LQM.

Pure Blind, which has been the home of Mostly Harmless alliance for most of the past year has come under siege from a large coalition of alliances. Triumvirate, Evoke, Red Overlord, Cry Havoc, The Initiative and Circle of Two are the primary offensive arm of the invading forces. Mostly Harmless has seen heavy reinforcement on numerous occasions from the Northern Coalition but their headquarters station of P-2TTL finally fell into the hands of The Initiative. Mostly Harmless now only controls one of the four outposts in the region but fighting now seems to be focused on the 40+ valuable moons in the region.

>> END

My corporation is a member of the LFA alliance and in the thick of the fighting between CVA and AAA. At one point in time we had 600 ally pilots pressing the attack on AAA... and we were only the 2nd biggest fight that week.

Dust 514 Trailer

2010-01-18T12:54:00.002+13:00

I don't think I could do a write-up of this as yet unreleased game justice. But the upshot is that it will be initially a console based First Person Shooter based on the Eve Online game universe. This will make it a HALO-like game with more strategic impact. The Eve game world is persistent and is based on the success of player combats (giant fleet battles between star ships). One proposed element is for Dust 514 combat to have an impact on who controls a planet and that will have an impact on who controls a solar system in Eve Online.

The concept has merit, but CCP's track record for delivering on their cool "out there" developments is nil. They release updates to Eve on a very regular basis, but these changes are rarely "revolutionary" and usually just fixing parts of the game that have been clunky for years.

I started playing Eve about 5 years ago after reading an announcement that they were about to launch human avatar game elements. Basically allowing you to really feel like a character in the game rather than just a collection of ships. But in 5 years... still no avatars. The game is great fun (as my other posts tagged Eve can attest). But I'm not hopeful of a development company who is just barely hanging on to upgrading their single platform game suddenly being able to launch a 2nd game effectively... certainly not within 5 years of the initial announcement if history repeats. So be looking for Dust 514 on Playstation 4 in 2015...

Game On!

Where to find fun RPG stuff

2010-01-15T12:22:00.003+13:00

I've posted all over various forums and scoured the web for fun RPG material. While I have posted these to various boards, I've never captured them in a blog. So here is a list of good links to things that I thought were cool. These things never last forever so some links may be dead. These resources were primarily of interest to me as they applied to d20 systems. Most of these are directly d20 Modern or d20 OGL (Open Game Licence) resources, but good ideas are good ideas and virtually anything can be converted to your favorite system.

RPGObjects / Vigiliant Press http://www.rpgobjects.com
Primarily driven by the creative efforts of Chuck Rice, RPGO represents (IMO) one of the best examples of independent game publishing. They always have high production value and great content. RPGO publishes in d20 OGL, True20, and their own system Modern^20.

Green Ronin http://www.greenronin.com and http://www.true20.com
GR has some of the best actual print books out for table top gaming. They have dabbled in d20 OGL and developed their own system which is my personal favorite, True20. The are also the masterminds behind Mutants & Masterminds, a super's based RPG. Everything they do is certain to be the highest quality and value.

The Game Mechanics http://www.thegamemechancs.com
Former Wizards of the Coast authors gone indy. They may not have done anything really new in a while, they still represent great writing and good content.

12 to Midnight http://www.12tomidnight.com
For me, these guys are the absolute master of creep. Their content puts a lot of thrill in to a table top game. The are big fans of Savage Worlds system and everything they write has a SV version as well as d20 versions.

Pinnacle Entertainment Group http://www.peginc.com
While on the subject of Savage Worlds, here's the folks that publish that system. They also write for many genre's and SV is a fast paced game with lots of flavor.

Michael Tresca http://michael.tresca.net
A one man game writing machine and creative spirit. Michael writes for fun and profit, but he has many free PDF's for download on his site. If you're an action movie fan, then Michael may have already written a d20 converstion for you. He has Terminator, Aliens, and many other movie converts on his site. A great freebie find.

Dog House Rules http://www.doghouserules.net
These guys do a very fine Western genre d20 game. Lots of good flavor downloads as well.

Blue Devil Games http://www.bluedevilgames.com
These guys started out with fantasy RPG material, but I discovered them while looking for Sci-Fi material. They have produced a massive Sci-Fi product in Dawning Star. Detailed, fun, and well written.

Crafty Games http://www.crafty-games.com
Spycraft is an excellent d20 system that is not OGL or d20 Modern. It is still d20 based, but has so many enhancements it really can not be called the same game. This would be a fantastic system for a hardcore game group. Plenty of great ideas to be had here.

You can buy all of these publishers from http://www.rpgnow.com (and many, many more). In fact, you can find PDF's on every genre, every open system, and plenty of new systems here too.

Another busy hub of all things RPG is http://www.enworld.net which has forums, reviews, and some of their own pulp to boot. A must have resource for the avid gamer.

Enjoy! Game On!

Post Holiday

2010-01-11T08:41:00.003+13:00

So I had about three weeks off this vacation. New Zealand does a bit of a total shutdown during the summer/new year's/christmas break. I dig it. It was a good vacation, but I did have to put a lot of energy in other things. But here is the gaming update. :-)

I'm up to about level 133 in Castle Age. Again, i'll appologize now to all my Facebook friends that have to endure multiple daily updates on Castle Age. The focus of this game at this level seems to be in slaying the epic monsters. I've complete all the quests at least once. One of the cool mechanics to CA is the concept of "Generals" which are heroes you buy to run your quests. Each quest is associated with a particular General. Running a quest with the right General gains you some influence on that quest and when you get to 100% influence you open up 2 sub-quests (that can be run with any General). Once you run the 2 sub-quests up to 100% the main quest resets to 0% at Level 2. This cycle can now be repeated to a maximum influence level of 4. Quests are grouped in to 6-7 "zones" and once you have gained 100% influence in 4 of the quests in a zone you open up a special boss fight. The boss fights have a chance to drop Orbs that allow you to summon the Epic monster fights that other players can assist with. CA has many other widgets to it though. You can give tribute to several Gods/Goddesses that will open up special quests and items. There is also a mysterious option to open up a zone called Atlantis, but to do so you have to run Epic Sea Serpent quests until you score 4 map piece drops. All in all, it is one of the most well developed FB games I've seen. Visually well done, good story, interesting mechanics, and the do keep adding new bits to it every couple of weeks or so.

The other game of my life is a return to Eve Online. I move both my pilots in to a corporation run by old friend (Eve friends, none that I've actually met). Our corp has now moved in to a 0.0 region called Providence. Providence is interesting because it is one of the great player driven experiments only possible in Eve. All 0.0 zones are full PvP and virtually all of them are run in a manner equivalent to the most brutal gang warfare. The only territory you can keep is that which you can defend. Corporations constantly form alliances and friendships that perpetually shift as everyone jockies for the ultimate in "free" resources. Eve is primarily a long epic of bitter betrayals and ruthless aggression. The game allows mechanics to tag players, corporations or whole alliances as targets to be killed or allies. Folks that are untag are considered neutrals. In 0.0, you typically only have friends or enemies and since neutrals can never be called friends they are considered enemies and they are ruthlessly attacked and killed. But this is not true in Providence. In this region the players that control the massive alliances which live in the region have decided that neutrals are not to be killed. They are welcomed and allowed to use the systems (mining or bounty hunting) as long as they also honor the don't shoot policy. If anyone violates this rule they are branded enemies and killed on sight.

Again, what I find endlessly fascinating about Eve is that all of these stories are totally player created. CCP did not specify that Providence be a neutral safe zone, people who play the game did. There have been massive holy wars over it. Providence has become part of the Eve story completely fabricated by the players.

Amy has been playing World of Warcraft on her xmas gift cards. I've poked at it a little. I leveled one toon from 70 to 71. But that's about it. The time to level in WoW is really long at 70+. After turning in some 200 quests, I'm tired of being the same level, but in WoW you still are. But it is still a pretty game.

That's what I'm playin'. Game On!

Ack! Two Months (almost)

2009-12-13T22:56:00.003+13:00

You know how the holidays get all busy and stuff? There are all these parties and people want presents. There seems to be some focus on shopping... Well it has been messing with my game time. Plus a healthy dose of real life. I have been keeping up with some good doses of game-therapy. I think we all need our crutches now and then. I have one nagging problem with video game crutches though... they don't seem to help much. You know if you have a real problem, playing games doesn't get your creative energy going to fix them. In fact, I think it may tire you out on problem solving (since that is a major aspect of gaming). Just a theory. So while I have been gaming... I have also been working on dealing with it all too. Thus fewer blogs. But here is a recap...

I kept up with Eve Online and joined an old corp that was reforming. These guys are easy to get along with and still like some adventure. My favorite part of this group though is their active use of a voice server. They talk and joke all the time. It is my own private morning radio show. I rejoined and they moved out to big bad 0.0 space to try out the latest free Eve expansion, Dominion. To the non-Eve player... I couldn't begin to explain what this expansion did. To the experienced Eve player I can say they changed how sovereign space works and that changes everything in Eve. Again I am struck by the sheer slowness of Eve. As my charismatic corp-mate has said, "Nothing in Eve is quick except getting killed." Truth.

In Facebook, I've been totally hooked by Castle Age. It works just like Mafia Wars and other "points for quests" type FB games, but the story line is cooler and it has great art. I'm a sucker for pretty girl art. It gets me every time.

Time has been limited so I haven't been doing any other gaming. See you in space.

Game On!

Holy Cow, a month!

2009-10-27T08:10:00.003+13:00

Hey it's been over a month since my last gamey blog. Well it has been busy and I've been back stateside visiting family. Game time is a premium commodity with family in two different hemispheres.

I've been playing Fallout 3 a lot more. It has that family-friendly pause button. I still flip skills in Eve Online and lately I've been reading more about its exciting new features. But Eve seems to always be waiting for a good feature. While I was in the US I did make a couple of choice purchases. I bought the real rules to Savage Worlds and an expansion set to the Battlestar Galactica boardgame. I also picked up a Traveller GM screen for fun. I'll have to write about them soon. I have let Evony die.

I am only playing 3 Facebook games; My Zoo, Mafia Wars, and Tiny Adventures. My Zoo is cute, educational, and super short to maintain. Mafia Wars... well just for the heck of it. Tiny Adventures is almost like D&D and they just packed in new characters which I am trying out. I've already run 18 generations thru the game tho... Might be time to let go.

Hope all is well for you... my 2 or 3 readers! Haha! Cheers, mates!

Game On.

More solo "social" games

2009-09-17T10:16:00.002+12:00

Well I've just not been excited about Eve or WoW lately so I've retreated to Facebook games. I even gave Evony the boot. Really without any hope of having those attractive female avatars to look at it, the game loses appeal. I suppose any game that really only has boobs going for it is not much of a game.

Perfect World is still an interesting idea, but I just can not bring myself to invest the time in it that it surely requires. I still think it is a fantastic free to play game and anyone that really has days of "do nothing" time should be looking at it.

The 3 active games on Facebook I am playing are Mafia Wars, My Zoo, and Tiny Adventures (D&D). I am about to give up on Mafia Wars. It follows what is now a common FB game format. I am not sure what genre to call it, but it works like this. You have a limited amount of "energy" to spend on "tasks" that gain you "resources" like experience points and money. You spend the money you earn on equipment that is required for some tasks. As you gain levels you get "points" to apply to your stats like your total amount of energy. These games require you to recruit other FB friends in to your group--this is also a requirement of many tasks. Mafia Wars has a few twists to it. You can build a core team of friends who boost your abilities by virtue of their level. You can join endless groups of Mafia's (other games often made joining exclusive so you had to leave one team to join another). The upshot of this is that it is much easier to get larger mafia teams. This really only helps in PvP combat. PvP combat is a very basic single blow exchange and who ever does the most "damage" wins. You get a slight bit of money and xp for this. You can assign "Hits" on enemy mafia--basically allowing you to post a bounty on someone you can't kill. I could go on, but really half the fun is figuring out the game yourself.

My Zoo is similar to Mafia Wars but less complex and a nudge more educational as you build your own zoo with a large number of animals. The animals have little stat blocks with them that talk about where they live and how endangered they are. My wife started this first and I started poking at it. This game is fairly new and still a bit raw, but entertaining.

Tiny Adventures was released by Wizards of the Coast probably a year ago. The format is simple, but unique. It is, of course, show casing their pen and paper game by letting you select familiar classes, loot dungeons, and use special powers. They just recently expanded in to new classes for Druid, Barbarian and others. I thought I'd go check them out. You level each character to level 11 and then they retire. You can pick one magic item you acquired to gift to your next character. This game really plays itself which I suppose is its one flaw. You enter a dungeon and encounters are timed. So there really is nothing for you to do aside from wait an hour for your character to complete. You can choose to change gear or use potions between encounters, but this isn't all that compelling.

I suppose the attraction to FB games is this low involvement. You click a few things and come back later to see how you did. This obviously makes it very work friendly. Amazing how we seem to be returning to nearly "MUD-like" games. I do hope they expand the concepts around the "social" part of these games to be truly social. It would be more fun to actively game in a team than just have friends as a "requirement."

It's a gaming lite week. But y'all go crazy. Game On!

Felicia Day and The Guild

2009-08-28T21:21:00.006+12:00

Honestly, I can't really imagine a cooler gamer. Game On, Ms. Day. Game On!

Felicia Day, born in Huntsville, Alabama, and now moved to LA to be an actress. Yet she still manages to be a gamer. She is the creative spirit behind the web phenom "The Guild" which can be seen at http://www.watchtheguild.com. She has roles on Dollhouse and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm sure she is soon to be an icon of legendary women in gaming--if not already.

Perfect World: Day 4

2009-08-27T14:10:00.003+12:00

So after a few days of on and off play, I can say that Perfect World is still interesting. I do find myself wanting to figure out more about how the game works. The game is entirely stable and seems to be without bugs. I generally experience a bug or two in WoW on a regular basis. To get an entirely free game without them seems a bit unreal.

I have to admit that I suffer bit of WoW burn out. Now any morg that resembles elves in the woods sort of turns my stomach a little. My ability to enjoy Perfect World is hampered by this burn out. It is a different game, but certainly contains many of the same tropes.

I'll keep it loaded for a while longer and see if maybe it suckers my wife in. Then I can report on the wife factor.

Game On!

Perfect World: Day 1

2009-08-24T11:38:00.003+12:00

I spied an ad for something called "Perfect World" on a game forum site yesterday. It appeared to be a morg that was "free to play" originally created in China. I wasn't convinced so I checked out the web site. They did not have an overwhelming amount of info on the game, but it was free and I figured, why not?

The client was a whopping 3.5 gig download. That a big client and on par with other full-sized, full-pay games. After the download was the required patching... then some confusion about account creation and then finally I could log in to play.

The toon creation system is sure to keep the aestetic gamer occupied for hours. There was a lot of detail to faces and body types. There are only 3 races, human, winged elf (mostly human), and untamed (human with animal head). But my wife is sure to enjoy just creating an avatar for hours.

After the few hours it took to download, install, and create a character I only got about 30 minutes to play. I ran a quest and learned a bit about the UI. It was all very well done (especially at the price). Graphics were very tuneable and on par with WoW. Animate was smooth. The game appearance was pleasing. I am intrigued. I'll have to fiddle with it some more as time allows... but no rush, it's free!

Game On!

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

2009-08-20T11:30:00.003+12:00

I just finished watching the last 3 episodes of GitS:SAC on DvD. I have the whole series now. I have seen the first movie and read one manga (book). I have enjoyed all of them so far. I'm sure I'll go on to acquire the next 26 episodes of The 2nd Gig.

I think of all anime, GitS might be my favorite so far. I love the cyberpunk feel absent of weird Japanese mysticism. GitS is pure technology. The themes explored are mostly moral, but not usually deeply dark. GitS does dive deep once in a while, but it doesn't wallow in it. All the main characters are likable, honorable and generally free of fatal flaws. I find these qualities fairly rare in anime.

Often a series mixes technology and magic with characters that have glaring flaws. These stories often dwell on death and torture. Protagonists never seem fully deserving of triumph. Sometimes I cheer for the bad guys.

So if you are like me and have really wanted to enjoy anime more, but just struggle to find one that is a bit more intelligent yet fun to watch, definitely consider Ghost in the Shell. It is a wide spread classic for a reason.

I have discovered there is a PlayStation 2 title for GitS. I'll have to check it out, but my first searches for it didn't make it sound appealling. A GitS inspired roleplay would rock on toast...

Game On!

Evony and Ivory

2009-08-10T16:39:00.005+12:00

Evony... I don't know about y'all, but this game's ad has been popping up on every game-ish site I have found. Each ad features a buxom model asking "Are you ready to play, My Lord?" The cleavage is massive. The hook is so obvious and ridiculous. So I clicked on it.

Turns out that Evony is a tech-tree medival simulator on par with early versions of Civilization. It just goes to show you how far computer gaming has advanced to make something like Evony completely free to play.

Evony is a web-browser embedded game. I'm guessing it uses Java behind the scenes, but I haven't pulled back the covers to look. None the less, it is a very complete and comprehensive game. You start as Lord of your city and must build up cottages, saw mills, barracks, etc and all the while upgrade various buildings to hit the quest goals. Typical for this sort of game you must manage resources and plan for player aggression--although you are give 7 days of peace to start.

There are ways to establish alliances and declare wars. There is a market system of buying and selling resources. There are wild, unowned valleys to explore with armies and plunder. It seems you can purchase (with real USD) resources directly and this seems to be the intent of the designers. To hook you with a free game and then let the first rube with $50 on Dad's credit card wipe you out with ill-gotten armies. Thus inspiring you to buy in. I don't think I'll be buying. But it is a fun easy diversion to run in the background.

Facebook Farm Town and Social Gaming

2009-07-16T10:57:00.001+12:00

While I typically only consider writing about "real" games like morgs and table top games, I have spent a bit of time fooling around with small Facebook games. I realize now that these are having a large impact on game playing in general and so I thought I'd at least give them a mention.

I'll use Farm Town as an example. A simple graphical game designed to kill time and leverage social networks. The idea is to plant various crops, harvest them, and sell the proceeds for "coins" to buy more virtual objects for your farm (including more crops). The game has aesthetic satisfaction as you try to put together both a profitable and visually pleasing farm. It has a nudge of mathematics as you will look for ways to maximize your profits. Even shop-a-holics will enjoy using the “store” and showing off for friends. The game rewards social behaviour by granting more coins to the farm owner when someone else harvests their corps. So if harvesting “corn” got you 180 coins solo, then having someone else harvest gets you 200. The harvester also gets paid (by the game, not the farm owner). Thus there is no downside to asking others to come to your farm and harvest.

These mini-games encourage more game play and may entice more “mainstream” digital users in to gaming. You could call them ‘gateway games.” Hehe! There are now hundreds of them on Facebook and I’m sure hundreds more on other social sites. So far I don’t know of any that cross boundaries between social sites, but I’m sure it could be done. I’m also sure there are a slew of hidden issues in these games regarding privacy, spyware, and other weird things that could happen. But too many folks play them now for them to ever disappear. They are a newish game form loose on the market. It will be interesting to see how far it goes.

By the way… I could use a few more neighbours. If you’re playing Farm Town on Facebook, send me a note!

Game On!

Long Live the MORG!

2009-07-06T15:17:00.004+12:00

I have declared that from this day forth... Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games shall no longer be referred to by the unpronouncable acronymn "MMORPG", but rather by "MMORG" in the proper sense and "morg" in common vernacular.

I mean if we can tolerate "pwnd" and "lolcatz" then why on earth do we have to stay saddled to MMORPG? Morg, I say!

I love morgs! Long live the morg! Hug your morg today!

Game On!

(morg!)

Clear Skies

2009-06-08T14:49:00.004+12:00

Fan fiction has been around probably longer than copyright. While most of it is bad and some of it is really bad, every once in a great while you come across a really good bit. Ian Chisholm has created two episodes of a show called Clear Skies based on the MMORPG, Eve Online. The story takes some liberties with Eve cannon, but delivers where it counts--a great story.

I have no idea how long Ian and crew spent working on this fan project, but the results are worth watching even if you're not an Eve fan. The basic plot is simple, the characters are entertaining and considering it was all "filmed" with in game graphics between Eve Online and Half-Life 2 (Eve has no human avatars or hallway environments), it's pretty awesome!

The files are too big for me to post. But here's a link to the Eve Online forum post that has the links to download and the mirrors.

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=783871

You can find all the bits of each 40 minute episode on YouTube, but Warner Brothers forced YouTube to audio silence the conclusion of Part 5 / Episode 2 for copyright infringement. So skip youtube and just download off the mirrors. The quality is better and you get to see the whole thing. You'll like it if you just like Sci-Fi. You'll love it if you know Eve Online.

Enjoy! Game On!

Battlestar Galactica: the Boardgame

2009-05-18T10:24:00.005+12:00

So at DoG I got to play my first session of Battlestar Galactica. I bought this game a few weeks ago and I've had my eye on it for long time. Search Google/Youtube for video reviews of the game, there are many and they will probably give you a better idea of the game. I wanted to talk about this specific game session on the blog. In a nutshell, I loved it.

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Players select characters to play at start up. I went with Giaus Baltar. I was 4th pick. Giaus' special ability is to draw a skill card of any type during a "crisis". This is handy as it guarantees that during my turn I can at least help a little (or hurt). The crisis phase of each player turn is really where all the action is and makes or breaks the final victory. One per game, Giaus can look at any player's loyalty cards to see if they are a Cylon. Giaus gets two of these cards, but in this session, I was not a Cylon.

The game was wicked cool and did a lot to capture the feel of the series. The pilots kicked cylon butt in space. The other characters threw in support in most respects just like their counter-parts in the series would. I even ended up in the Brig for while. The Cylon attacks were probably the most gripping. Attacks don't end at the end of that player's turn. So the next player draws a new crisis that must be dealt with in the midst of the attack. Sometimes second attacks occur on top of the first. The intensity starts to build. The Humans struggle even in the most cooperative game.

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In our game the President (Laura) and Starbuck turned out to be Cylons. I actually turned out to be a "Sympathizer" but since the Humans were already fairing poorly, the "sympathizer" doesn't have further negative effect. Having the President turn out to be a Cylon is a pretty rough blow to the Humans. But as it turned out, the Humans just barely squeeked out a victory. We lost a ton of population and morale, but we made the final jump.
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We had 6 players in this session. I think the game would play best 4-5. But 6 is quite doable. Really I think you could do even more. 3 players would make it really hard on the Humans. The challenges don't get any easier with 3 and that means the total contribution each player makes must be higher.

The game complexity overall is not too bad. It is far less complex than say Axis and Allies, but certainly several steps above your average boardgame. Avid fans of the series may really like the game, but they will have to absorb some moderately complex rules. Game lovers should have no issue at all. It is a longish game--running 3-4 hours. But unlike other long games that seem "forgone" for the last 30% of the game, BSG is gripping right to the end.

For those Wellington readers... We should plan a game-my house--I may even provide pizza. Game On!

Day of Games (DoG) May 2009

2009-05-18T10:07:00.002+12:00

I have several posts mentally queued up. But I'll get this one out first. I went to a mini-con in Wellington (Turnbull House) last Saturday simply dubbed "Day of Games" hosted by Sophie (on those blog links in the side bar).

The format of this con was simply to break up the day in multiple 2-hour sessions and lets players and GM's cut loose on anything they wanted to join. It seemed to work out pretty well. I was happy to show up and just go with it.

My first session was playing 3:16 with Sophie and 2 other americans--oddly enough. We had a good time with this simple format game. 3:16 contains about 5 game mechanics total and so plays very quickly, but still captures the feel of a good roleplay experience. I was Tech SGT "Wrench" Turner. We shot lizards in our first "deployment" and then played drug crazed soldiers in training for the 2nd deployment. It was a lot of fun.

In the second session I got to play the game that I really wanted to try, Battlestar Galactica (boardgame). I'll do a separate post on this game. It was very satisfying.

I also got to try another Final Flight game called "Cosmic Encounter". It was good to squeeze this one in to try it. It probably would not make it in to my collection, but I can see how it would have appeal for some play groups. The central theme of CE is negotiation between players. I would see this game being best played between folks that knew each other at least casually. We only had 3 players and that made the negotiation triangle not all that interesting. It would be best with about 5.

Overall, I think the event was a good success. I was happy to see the gamer crowd in Wellington again and happy to get table time with folks.

Free Willy

2009-05-14T10:43:00.003+12:00

Okay, so my major game play has still been Eve Online the last few weeks. One thing that keeps pulling me back to Eve is that it is fairly easy to "play" even when you're not logged in. That is... you can do a lot of things with it offline... I shall dub this Eve Offline. What I'm talking about here are the things that happen with out much online involvement like selling goods, making goods, and skill training.

The market system in Eve is without equal. It easily rivals global economics. There are hundreds of individual markets spread across dozens of regions. Many players make all their in-game credits by simply buying and selling goods without ever moving them. Some buy bulk quantities in one region and then move them to another region at a mark-up.

All the player driven manufacturing is done from stations and complete over time. These "jobs" continue even while you're logged off. Often I'll assemby the materials for a multi-day job and then just kick it off to run. I can wait a couple of days and then go back and fetch the job. Presumably, I then post it on the market and wait for the ISK to roll in.

While I'm logged in for 5 minutes to fetch jobs and post goods to the market, I can also queue up skills to train. Thus while logged off, my characters can happily be making stuff, making ISK, and training for new ships or abilities. I can go off and play WoW or watch TV.

My latest achievement is the Orca. I bought one off a corp-mate who named it "Free Willy"--thus the name of this post. This is a relatively new ship in Eve--offically called an "Industrial Command Ship". It is not a combat vessel in any fashion, but it is a great toy for goofing around in Empire space. The mining bonuses it provides are exceptional. It's hauling capacity is second only to Freighters. But while a Freighter can do nothing beyond haul giant cargo's, the Orca can haul very, very large cargo's, fit various modules, loot cans/wrecks from space, contains a ship maintenance bay, and a corp hanger bay. I am extremely pleased with the ship. In fact, I'm fairly certain that CCP will have to do something to buff up the Freighter now since it is such a complete dog of a ship... dog ship, I say.

I think next I will work on getting better at dealing EM damage--probably T2 Praetor drones. This will allow me to cut through missions for Khanid Royal Navy quicker. Quicker missions means quicker ISK. After this I'm not sure. Maybe I'll work on T2 Rails for more direct damage dealing.

Game On!

Apocrypha

2009-04-28T10:03:00.002+12:00

Okay… another Eve post. About 2 weeks ago Eve released an update called “Apocrypha” which introduced many new game elements. The most exciting of these was the creation of wormholes. These holes potentially link any system to any other system with an uncontrolled 0.0 system in the middle. The concept is development brilliance. CCP can basically change the game rules inside a wormhole system to experiment with new game elements—more on this later. They also re-vamped Exploring (scan probes) to help find these wormholes. Lastly they introduce a new ship type called a “Strategic Cruiser” based on the lost technology now uncovered in the wormholes. Can you see the theme?

The wormhole systems are populated by new bad guys called Sleepers. The systems themselves are considered null security (no rules PvP), but they lack a Local channel. In Eve all “civilized” systems have a Local chat channel that you are forced to join that lets you chat with everyone in that system. PvP junkies complain that being forced in to Local gives away too much info to other pilots in the system. From the Local channel you can see who is in the system and check each pilot’s history and bio. While this gives no information about the ship the pilot may be flying or the location of said pilot, it does tell you when that pilot was created and what security status they are, and their work history. Since raw pilot potential is a function of time spent training skills, older pilots have more potential to be experienced and deadly. Security status tells you if they’ve been a bad boy. Killing other pilots drops your sec status and generally indicates you are a pirate. So the wormhole allows CCP to see what happens when you take local away. Now it used to be that scanning down a ship was very difficult, but read on…

Scan probes have been completely redone. It used to take a base of 10 minutes to deploy a probe to scan a system. So once you saw a bad guy in Local you knew you had a few minutes to hide, dock, or run. In addition, scanning was hard to do and only light combat ships could do it. But that’s all changed. Now any ship can effectively fit a Core Scanner. This won’t scan down a ship, but it will quickly scan down “cosmic anomalies”. These are what the game calls all the special hidden sights in a system and they are typically where you want to be if you are a non-PvP pilot. These spots will be hidden complexes, archaeology sites, or hidden asteroid belts. They are all places to find a profit. Now any ship and pilot can scan these down in seconds. If you happen to be there, you’re easy pickings. The new scan probes have a scan radius of 32 AU… far exceeding what your normal ship scanner can detect. In short, a bad guy can drop on you inside a cosmic anomaly at any time and you’ll have no warning (in a wormhole). This is less than ideal…

Lastly the bit I now the least about—Strategic Cruisers. Why don’t I know about them? Well, anything new in Eve hits the market at ridiculous prices. These cruisers are selling for about a billion ISK. The special feature of the ship is that they are modular with each containing 4 components. These each modify the appearance of the ship. Each race has its own model, thus we have 16 visual combinations per race. This is completely new flexibility for Eve which already has about 100 ships types. Other ships, however, are static in appearance—some ships are “copies” of other hulls with slightly different colour schemes. The new Strategic Cruisers are thus fairly exciting. But until they get cheaper, I won’t see many of them…

Armageddon Expo

2009-04-06T11:17:00.003+12:00

Armageddon Expo was pretty cool. I got ample time to really check out all the booths several times and then make some strategic purchases. This was good for me as I often get to these things and either buy too much or nothing. I walked away with just two comic book volumes—Watchmen and Transmetropolitan.

Watchmen was an obvious pick as it was cheaper (only $40 NZD) than any where else I had found it. Transmetropolitan was an impulse pick as it dealt with advanced digital living and a very cyberpunk vibe. I’ve been looking for additional cyberpunk inspiration to help me write more on a 60k word project I stopped around Christmas. It was fun and I’m glad I picked it up, but no writing has occurred yet.

The Expo was very crowded. It was pretty much always elbow-to-elbow. I really do not like crowds like that. Many of the stalls were hard to even browse for the constant throng of folks in front of them. Many vendors didn’t mark their goods with prices and having to push up to the front and then shout over the crowd noise didn’t make the event more appealing.

I did walk away from some cool buys. I really wanted Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig, but even at the bargain price of $95 NZD, I just couldn’t justify spending the money on DVD’s. I also passed over some cool tshirts with beat meter LED’s built in to them. I was particularly fond of the version that had Wi-Fi detection. But these were $50 each. Again… I limited my self to just the two purchases.

I like these types of events in Wellington, but I must say, I wish they’d pick a larger venue or organise the layouts better to have more room for the crowds.

Day of Darkness II

2009-04-05T21:04:00.002+12:00

A fantastic video... part of the player driven story of Eve that keeps me watching. Watch this video in High Def. The parts with ships in space are "in game" shots with the ship interface hidden.

Minor Facelift

2009-04-05T07:51:00.002+12:00

I'm experimenting with blog themes and customization. This seems to be a key area of "differentiation" for blog sites. The end results are your blog chunks on a web site, but the tools you use to get them there are vastly different.

I am using 3 blog sites at the moment. Multiply has almost no layout editing tools, but does use CSS. If you were a web-coder, you could do about anything with this. I am not (yet). Blogspot has easy to use tools that offer quite a bit of flexibility, but there are still limits. Blog spot also lets you edit the code directly. Finally, I'm using Wordpress to capture my writing on a private blog. Wordpress has a huge selection of options. They range from ultra cool to rather puzzling. But it is easy to see that Wordpress has put the most effort in to user tools.

I don't know how you'd qualify which is best. It depends on how much you want to do.

Anyways... I've changed the look. Hope you like it.

Game On!

Guided by the Heart?

2009-03-28T14:49:00.004+13:00

A continuation of the adventure of Joshua Spectre and Evelyn Drake on their search for the Pharaoh's Heart.

Spectre and Miss Drake begin to organize for an expedition to the Temple of Isis. The notes recovered from Kinkaid's tomb describe many land marks and directions, but it is difficult to know where to start and the Arizona deserts are yet a wild wilderness. The duo spend the evening talking about how to find the Temple. But after 20 years trapped in a tomb, his memory isn't the best. Plus, he had a guide in 1918 so he wouldn't have to remember. The ghost recalls his friend and co-adventurer, Walking Bear, who used to live in Chicago not terribly far from Hyde Park. Kinkaid can remember the neighborhood, but not exactly where the old native american kept his home.

Early the next day, they grab a company scooter and hit the streets. The cafe owners don't recognize the name "Walking Bear" but most of them seem only too eager to suggest the Liquor stores. With little else to try they decide to wait for them to open. Antsy, Josh can't wait and sneaks inside to steal a phone book. However, no luck--he's not listed.

About lunch time the Bottle Shop opens up and Evelyn chats up the largish, older gentleman running the till. He does know Walking Bear, although he is quick to point out that he's no drunk--he's just very behind on his tab. He directs them to an alley where they can find the guide.

The alley happens to be home to small gang of toughs.

Spectre set to work with punches, kicks and nunchuks. Evy called forth a sand golem. The 5 man gang was quickly "subdued". Josh only lifted the cash off the gang leader and let the weaker punks keep their pay.

Walking Bear's apartment was occupied by his girlfriend, but he has been missing for a couple of day. Ginny seems to be a descent singer, but also suffers from an opium drug addiction. The last few stressful days have left her tired and afraid. But she opens up to Evelyn in the hopes that the two would-be explorers will help find her "Wookie".

Ginny tells them that Wookie has had a bad patch of luck gambling lately and that Nick DeSilva (a pit boss for the mob) might have come to collect the debt. She tells them where the secret casino is run.

Evelyn convinces Ginny to pack a bag and come stay at the Lareux warehouse for a few days while she and Josh sort it out--they will head out the next day.

OI, Matey! Look who's 80

2009-03-24T09:50:00.003+13:00

Over the last weekend I strapped in, had the wife deliver food to my computer (a mere 2 steps from the kitchen), and ground out XP to hit 80th level in World of Warcraft. Melongrim on Nazjatar is now an 80th level Warlock. With some loving help from the guys back home we hit several instances to really speed up the process. 90% of my time on WoW is solo'ing so while I have good "quest gear", I don't have the really good instance gear. Every time I get to go with the guys on a Dungeon run, I invariably get virtually all new kit because at this point any ol' drop is better than what I have.

Millions of players have hit level 80 I'm sure. I am far, far from being in the top 50%, but hey, that was my weekend. I'll post a picutre when I get home.

The MMORPG experience isn't quite as fulfilling as the old table top game, but it is getting better. The scenery in the end zone of Lich King is stunning. Blizzard really put together some great looking content. I liked the story lines and was often motivated to complete quest chains just to see how they ended rather than just to get the gear or XP. That's a good small step forward. With a Ventrillo server, I can talk to all the guys like I'm in the same room. I am 10,000 miles away, but I can still get in a game with the old buddies. Life is pretty good.

Now that my "main" is 80, I'll have to decide where to go next. I may have to run quests for the gold. Completing a quest now coverts the XP reward to money. So a typical quest may offer 20g in rewards. I need to get to about 6-7000 gold to buy the best flying mounts. Right now I'm stuck on my slow ones. I could also go for increasing my Engineering skill to 450. Or I could start in on leveling one of my other 7 characters to 80... not sure about that.

On other gamey news... the Armageddon Con is coming this April 4th. I have another table top RPG game this Sunday--this one is supposed to be a Dune themed game. That sounds pretty jazzy.

Game On!

Munchkin

2009-03-10T15:25:00.004+13:00

I have a shelf full of games that no one in our house has played. I pick up these games thinking maybe some child, spouse, or new gamer friends may want to play something. I used to feel a bit weird about this, but I have sort of given up on that. I like games so I'm ready for about anything.

One of these games sitting on my shelf is a little card game called Munchkin by Steven Jackson. This one finally made it off the shelf to be played by the family. It looked quick and sorta funny and about the right speed for a 9 year old. As it turns out, the game delivered on all 3 points.

Munchkin is a card game where each player is supposed to be representing a player in a goofy version of Dungeons & Dragons. It plays off all the stereotypes and cliches of RPG's and gamers. You start off as a Level 1 Human and by playing drawn "dungeon" cards you can become different classes (like Warrior, Wizard, etc) and races (like Elf, Dwarf, etc). Sometimes you draw monsters you have to defeat with your cards in play and each time you do you "gain a level" so you might become a Level 3 Elf Warrior at some point in the game and then draw other cards that allow you to shift to Dwarf Wizard or other some silliness. Defeating monsters get you treasure cards which will often be items like my favorite, Kneepads of Alluring.

Players can barter with each other for help with monsters or treasure. But sometimes a player can also make your leveling harder through various mishaps/curses.

The game was easy and light hearted. A fun one to try with a "supportive" family if you don't have a "gamer" family.

Game On!

An Engineer in Warcraft

2009-03-05T10:55:00.003+13:00

So I am still riding high on the gifted World of Warcraft timecards from Christmas. The wife and I have graciously agreed to share a single account. She plays pretty rarely anyway and I play in the evenings after dinner.

Last week she told me about an article that basically stated no other developer will ever be able to beat this game. This is not too hard to imagine. At well over 10 million subs and each paying $15 USD per month to play... count up those zeros... $150,000,000 per month or 1.8 billion dollars per year. Blizzard may be putting a measurable dent in our trade deficit. That buys a lot of developers. Blizzard now has a department of full time staff devoted to making flowers prettier. If you consider $$ = quality a valid equation, then no one in the market today can match the investment that Blizzard can.

That said, I don't find Warcraft to be "all that" or even "the best game made." It certainly is a "good" game. I find it frustrating on more and more occasions as I tire of the basic mechanics and never changing themes, but it delivers more of what I want out of a game than other titles. Combined with the fact that even my mother can buy me a game card as an impulse gift and I may well be playing this game until I retire (or longer). I am still hopeful that something else will come along with new themes and all the same qualities of game satisfaction, but I don't see anything on the 2 year horizon.

We bounce back and forth from the Muradin (PvE) and Nazjatar (PvP) servers--but always Horde side. In my New Zealand timezone I am often playing solo so PvP is less satisfying at times, but I have a ton of friend on the Naz server and the game serves as both game entertainment and cherished time with old pals. Pretty much can not beat that.

I have to give Kudos to Blizzard for adding in a multitude of fun widgets to the game over the years. While I think most "hard core" players are all in the game for the power gaming (40 man raids to quest for the most epic gear), I find more enjoyment from the simple goofiness of the Engineering profession. You see, my Warlock, Melongrim, has been an Engineer her whole career. Warcraft uses a sort of "steam punk" version of technology where characters can create mechanical pets and even flying gyro-copters and other fanciful items. The Wrath of the Lich King expansion introduced "tinkering" items that allow you to add bizarre features to your existing armor/items like Hand Pyro-Rockets. This tinker allows you to turn an ordinary pair of gloves in to a damage dealing ranged weapon (fires once a minute). Or you can turn your cloak in to a parachute (so you can jump off cliffs without dying). One of my new favourites is to make "Explosive Decoys". These look like harmless critters that hop innocently around the vast WoW landscape like rabbits, squirrels, rats, etc. They are often killed casually by pedestrial players as a means to level up weapon skills or just out of boredom. But my explosive decoys are hardly innocent. They blast a 5 yard radius for 1700 points of damage--easily killing everything under 30th level. I giggle just imagining the potential.

With Engineering you can also fashion directly useful bombs and grenades. These are usually made 1 or 2 at a time and increase in effectiveness as you level up. But curiously I just trained for the ability to make a "Box of Bombs" that makes something like 30 grenades at a time. I have no idea why this sudden increase was added. These bombs are also listed as doing "light siege damage" and I have no idea what that means either.

The point here is these little gems keep the players interested. With $150 million per month to goof around, I think there may not be a better engineering playground for many years to come.

Game On!

PS: Go ahead... kill the bunny. *snicker* Pay no attention to the snickering warlock behind the tree.

Dominion

2009-02-26T21:18:00.004+13:00

Hey, I'm so excited! I got to play a real game with real gamers. It has been a couple of months.

Dominion is a boxed game, but it was really a card game with a board game feel. It took a lot of elements that I liked from other card games, but kept them simple yet very flexible. It would be a very different game each time you played.

The general idea is that each player is a monarch out to capture more land (point cards). In order to get land you have to buy it with gold and to get gold you have to play your hands just right and acquire the right resources. When 3 sets of resources are exhausted the game is over and every one counts up how many land/point cards you accumulated.

The game comes with 25 different resource cards and you choose 10 to use in any one game. Since each game could use a different set of 10, you create a huge amount variation in each game. Game style can be tailored to be very player vs. player to be a game where each player is basically free to build their own resources unfettered (making it more of a race). Two to four players can play on a single set, but you could probably expand to more.

I liked it quite a bit. I was really glad to get to play. I'll put it on my wish list.

Game On!

D-EVE-lopement Delays

2009-02-25T09:35:00.001+13:00

I’ve said this before, but in the absence of the actual release I guess I’ll just have to talk about it again. When I first started playing Eve I assumed that there was a human avatar component. Of course, there is not—Eve is all about space ships, pvp combat, industry (crafting), and complex economies. In 2005 they were talking about “walking in stations” and that suckered me in to playing. Usually when a development team is talking about a feature, it usually shows up inside a year. Well here were chugging through 2009 and the Eve dev team is still talking about it.

Granted, they are talking about it more often and in association with such features being released in 2009. We’ll see. I must admit I’m still excited about the notion. CCP doesn’t do things in half-measures—every dial on Eve is set to 11. I expect no less from the human avatar design. The screen shots so far have been very impressive. There is much discussion about “games in the game” which is the ability for players to plonk down at a table and play games. There is even discussion of things like Texas Hold’em. This opens up a whole new avenue of revenue generation via in game gambling for ISK. That would be pretty fabulous. I can see some players jumping in to Eve with no interest in being pilots!

Many things have been discussed. I can only wait until they finally do release. In the mean time, my accounts have both expired again. I can’t afford to pay the online fees in US dollars at the moment, but I’ll be keeping my eye on it.

CCP continues to put other enhancements in to affect. They are releasing a whole new technology tree with new “customizable” T3 cruisers in the next month or so. While these are interesting, I don’t find them compelling… at least not at $30 NZD a month.

To me, Eve Online is the only unique competitor to World of Warcraft. Virtually every other MMORPG is just another fantasy based WoW clone. No one will be able to take on Blizzard and WoW for next 10 years. Blizzard is raking in 70+ million dollars a month in fees… 70 million a month. Just from WoW. That buys a lot of developers. No start-up will be able to challenge that expenditure. In order to pull away WoW players, you’re going to have to offer something that WoW doesn’t. No game can be all things to everyone. Fantasy clones are therefore doomed to fail. Other genre’s will have to rise and take hold of the market. Eve has more years of development under its belt than even WoW. They have easily the most rich and diverse Sci-Fi MMORPG ever created. If they can continue to grow and stay funded, then they may yet steadily gain ground in the MMO market.

Game Blahs

2009-02-16T09:01:00.004+13:00

I am hitting a bit of gamer duldrums. My two main online games are Eve and WoW. I can't afford to play Eve at $30 a month and WoW is still just... WoW. Both games are just what they have always been, but after several years on each, I do keep confronting a diminishing return in enjoyment.

The wife and I are working through Season Two of Battlestar Galactica. Definitely a great series and probably the best Sci-Fi series made. I saw a boardgame version at Wargame Supply that looked interesting. Waaay too expensive for me to afford right now, but looks cool.

I haven't checked MMORPG release schedules lately. Probably just more fantasy crap in the pipeline.

I'll have to hit the next Welly RPG meeting (WARG) and see what's shakin'.

Game On!

Gamer Update

2009-01-29T14:24:00.002+13:00

The high summer of New Zealand conspires to squeeze out my game time. My folks are visiting from the States and the beaches and other fantastic attractions of the islands keep me away from the game table. I missed out on the big game conference Kapcon 08 and I haven't hit a Wellington Area RPG Group meeting since November. But all is well and I'm sure I'll be in the gamer swing of things by the end of Feb.

I did get some awesome game time cards for Christmas. Thanks John! Woot! I also got a $10 "come back to Eve" special offer which should expire Feb 20th. But until then I have some cheap MMORPG action which is great since I'm not playing these all that much even.

My wonderful oldest son sent me a Lego game for xmas which is still waiting for me to have some extra game time to play with it. It looks cool.

In Eve, I have Porter working on her mission running (aka: combat) skills. She can now fly a Minmatar battleship (Typhoon) well enough to complete Level 4 missions where the real ISK is. This makes Porter a more well-rounded character than my "main" character, Masada (pictured right, hehe). Porter has awesome secondary/production skills and now as basic combat skills where Masada has stellar combat skills, but only poor secondary/production skills. Ah well. At the moment Masada is active (Porter is expired) and I'm training up Recon ships. The Arazu Force Recon Cruiser is great fun.

I hope you are all enjoying your Summer or Winter! Hehe! Game On!

Christmas EVE, WoW!

2008-12-18T15:42:00.005+13:00

Gaming has been mostly World of Warcraft lately. I have been working on my Death Knight, Mildread, for a while. The class is pretty ridiculous by comparison to other classes, but it is pretty fun. Leveling past 70 is a crawl though.

In the midst of leveling Mildread, I also kept leveling my "main" on this PvE server. I have three 70's on my PvP server, but Amy wanted to play on PvE so I've been working on it instead. I have level 60 Shaman on the same server with Amy. He has herbalism and inscription professions which are helping make some gold so it is worth while to level him up. Plus our guild sorely needs healers.

I've been having heaps of technical difficulties with WoW. Basically when I first log in it loads the environment, but all NPC's are listed as "Unknown" and I can't interact with anything or cast spells. Then after exactly 2 minutes I drop. This will happen 2 or 3 times and then the game will work normally. It's very annoying.

Today I got an email from Eve Online offering free 5-day account activations for inactive players. So I'll probably take advantage of that sometime soon. I am quite excited to visit my old space locations... perhaps with the Carrier ship.

I also need to revist Adventures of Doom and get busy writing more of my Cyberpunk novel... So much leisure... so little time.

Merry Christmas all!

What a Gamer wants for Christmas

2008-12-08T10:54:00.005+13:00

Hey, it's Christmas time and I was thinking about writing a blog update and presto... Blog idea. Here's what piques my interest this season.

Pathfinder RPG:
I've read about this as a competitor to the new D&D 4e rules. It has been described as the next evolution of the 3.5 rules. While I don't need another fantasy game in my life, I am interested to see was a serious contender is doing with tabletop gaming.

Eve Online Time Cards:
With the falling exchange rate, my USD purchasing power has been cut in half. This makes subscription based games like Eve Online particularly hard to pay for. The fees have essentially doubled. So $30 buys me two months of gaming that would have cost me $60. Go go American Dollar!

World of Warcraft Time Cards:
Same idea, different game. My lovely wife has been playing Wrath of the Lich King with me and maintaining two accounts is doubly hard (that's quadrupal hard with the exchange rate).

Traveller RPG books:
Books in general start at three times more expensive in NZ than in the US. Next add shipping and the exchange... Books are nearly equal to there weight in gold. Traveller is a space opera setting that I've looked at for a while, but could never justify the purchase on my own.

Battlestar Galactica Boardgame:
I love board games. I never get to seriously play them, but I have reconciled myself to a life of collection. At $88 in local currency... this is another item I just could never justify for myself. Amy and I have been working our way through Season 2. If there is a season 3, that would be cool too. I also saw a spin off called "Razor" that would probably be cool too.

Nintendo Wii:*
Just in case Santa ever reads these things. I'd like a Wii with Metroid and Wii Fit. Well over $400 in NZD... This won't be under my tree this year.

Playstation 3:*
Quite the awesome console with an equally "awesome" price tag. Maybe if I have been extraordinarily good this year.

Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig (boxed set)**
I love everything in this series. I already own Stand Alone Complex. This isn't a game, but it is gamer cool. Truth be told, I am an Anime fan. I like all of it. But GitS is one of the best in the genre (IMO).

Books by Iain Banks:
I have already read, The Algebraist and Player of Games. Anything else by this author would be grand. Iain is a brilliant sci-fi writer.

Virtually any DVD set:**
We don't have cable of any sort. Any series or recent movie is going to be cool for us!

Here's some stuff I *don't* want... Nothing from D&D 4e. Nothing from the Wizard's of the Coast d20 Modern line. Nothing about Warhammer Online or Games Workshop.

*NOTE: Video games are copyright controlled by "zone". We can not play games from non-asian zones (like the US). The best site to shop for us online at is http://www.mightyape.co.nz/.

**NOTE: DVD's are copyright controlled by "zone". While we are not in the US zone, we do have a US DVD player. We can watch DVD's from any zone on our player. Mighty Ape is a great source for DVD's and Books that will save you International shipping charges :)

Wrath of the Crack Lich

2008-11-28T20:46:00.003+13:00

I'm still heavily engaged in my writing goal of 60,000 words. I'm at about 18,000 which while far from the mark is more than I've ever written before so I'm still pretty excited about it. The story is a cyberpunk theme based on many of the tropes I like most about the Interface Zero True20 setting I picked up a few weeks ago. My theme is really to discover what new levels of humanity may be uncovered as we shed more and more of our biology.

I have the next leg of Adventures of Doom layed out in bubble flow form with a list of encounters and necessary NPC's altho I don't have all details worked out yet. But I could probably run it as is. I'm really working on developing NPC's and motivations so that I sustain the story without so much planning.

The other big time waster is the newly released Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft. Amy started playing again on a PvE server and that suckered me in to racing a character up to 55th level so I could start a Death Knight character. The DK's are just introduced with this expansion and they rock. I've had tons of fun with my new Blood Elf Death Knight that I named... Mildread. I hope my great aunt doesn't mind.

All things considered, life is good.

Game On!

Sound Shaping: a new Power of Doom

2008-11-18T10:36:00.002+13:00

SOUND SHAPING
Fatiguing, Maintenance
The Adept has supernatural control of sounds. Sound Shaping can not function in areas of supernatural silence or in a vacuum, but it does function underwater. Targets with no ability to hear are unaffected by Sound Shaping. Wearing protective ear plugs (or similar) gains +2 on saves versus Sound Shaping.

Eavesdropping: The adept can listen in on conversations (even whispered) conversations at a distance of 120’. The target must be within line of sight. The adept is effectively amplifying the sound to her own location. The conversation can be “turned up” for all to hear or kept soft to whisper level. Eavesdropping requires a Difficult Check of 10 plus situational modifiers. This use of Sound Shaping is not Fatiguing.
Mimic Sound: The adept can recreate any tonal sounds she has experienced in person. This can include the voice patterns of a speaker she has listened to for at least 10 minutes granting a +2 on Disguise checks when attempting to be a specific person. The adept can instantly pick up accents and dialects of languages she knows (+1 on social interaction skills). Animal sounds that have been heard once can be recreated. Virtually any sound can be mimicked—gun shots, door slams, windows breaking, train whistles, etc. Sounds recreated this way can not be so loud as to be damaging. This power functions even when the adept is gagged otherwise unable to speak. The adept can “source” the sounds from any spot within 120’ that is in view. This is effectively an aural illusion which may grant a target a Will save to detect the deception. Mimicking requires a Difficulty Check of 15, however, the result becomes the save DC for the target. Mimicry lasts 1 minuter per adept level. The adept can make another fatigue check to extend the duration. In general, using this power should only grant +/- 2 to any given effect.
Daze: By emitting sharp sounds the adept can daze a target for one round per adept level if the target fails a Fortitude save. The adept must make a DC of 15 Daze a target.
Nauseate: By emitting sub-sonic tones the adept can induce the Sickened condition on the target for 1 round per adept level. The difficulty check for Nauseate is 20.
Silence: The adept can center a 5’ sphere of silence on a person or object. If the subject is unwilling they can resist the effect by making a Will save. The base Difficulty for this effect is 25. The target must be within 60’ of the adept. The adept can increase the area of effect by an additional 5’ radius by adding +5 to the check to a maximum of 15’ radius. Targets caught inside the effect, but not targeted by it receive a Reflex save to get out of the area of the sphere.

Time: Sound Shaping is a Standard Action, only Eavesdropping and Mimic Sound require maintenance.

Raise Sand Golem: a new Power of Doom

2008-11-17T13:41:00.005+13:00

RAISE SAND GOLEM
Fatiguing
You can raise servants from the sand to protect you or guard a location.

Mindless: Creation of sand golems requires 100 pounds of sand, grit, gravel or other similar material per golem. Once destroyed, the material can not be re-used. The size and shape of the golems is entirely up to the caster, but can not be larger than human sized. The caster has no awareness of what the golems experience. Inert golems made of fine sand can be sculpted to appear in whatever Medium sized form the caster desires. Regardless of the type you create, you can not make more golems than twice your adept level with a single use of Raise Sand Golem. The golems you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this power, however, you can control only four times your adept level in levels of mindless golems. If you exceed this, all newly created creatures fall under your control, and any excess from previous castings become uncontrolled. You choose which creatures are released from your control. Golems must be within your line of sight to control. New commands can be issued while the golems are within 60’ of the creator. Damaged golems do not heal over time, but another use of the Raise Sand Golem power will repair all damage.

Intelligent: You craft a single intelligent guardian. Unlike the mindless golem, this creature is not under your control; although, you can use other means, including other powers, to command it. Creating an intelligent golem has a Difficulty of 18. Default intelligence of the creation is INT -2. Each one point of increased intelligence add +2 to the Difficulty. Intelligence can not exceed that of the caster. Only one such creation can be active at any time. The creator must destroy the current golem to create another.

Creation of an intelligent Sand Golem requires 300 lbs of fine sand plus other expensive materials totalling Wealth DC of 28 + 1 per extra point of Intelligence. If you fail this power check to animate a golem, the materials are rendered useless. Once completed, the final result is an intelligent construct of the same level as the creator’s adept level. The golem is functionally a spirit of the earth given free-will by the caster. The foundation of its knowledge is the same as the creator’s. The creator can only give the golem skills the caster possesses. An intelligent Sand Golem can learn 2 Skills + Int bonus (minimum 1). A first level golem gains the Weapon Training feat and one other Feat—gaining one additional Feat every 3 levels. A sand golem may use any equipment normally available to humanoids including arms and armor. It will share the same languages as the caster and speaking to it is required (there is no mental contact). It begins “life” as Friendly to the caster.

Time: One minute for Mindless Sand Golems. One day for Intelligent Sand Golems.

SAND GOLEM (Mindless)
Type: 1st-level construct
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 ft.
Abilities: Str +1, Dex +1, Con —, Int —, Wis +0, Cha –5
Feats: Improved Initiative
Traits: Damage Reduction 2/Bludgeoning, Night Vision, Darkvision (60 ft.),
Immunities
Combat: Attack +1 (Dex), Damage +1 (unarmed) or by weapon,
Defense +1 (Dex), Initiative +5
Saving Throws: Toughness +1, Fortitude —, Reflex +1, Will —
Damage Reduction +2/Bludgeoning: Sand Golems lack flesh or internal organs, making them resistant to cutting and piercing weapons.
Immunities: Sand Golems are immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, disease, and mind-influencing effects (including mind influencing powers). They are not subject to critical hits, non-lethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, or any effect requiring a Fortitude save, unless it works on inanimate objects.

A Sand Golem maintains what ever shape it was given at creation whenever it is “at rest”. This can be virtually any form from an indistinct pile of sand to an ornate sandstone statue. Once activated the Sand Golem forms in to a swirling humanoid shape attacking with hardened punches formed from its own swirling mass. Once the action it was given is completed, it will return to its original state. Sand Golems can not swim, but can walk along the bottoms of still lakes or pools. Rushing water (and high tides) will disperse a sand golem destroying it in 3 rounds. Mindless golems can only accept simple direct commands.

SAND GOLEM (Intelligent)
Type: Variable level construct (as Expert)
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 ft.
Abilities: Str +1, Dex +2, Con —, Int —, Wis +0, Cha +0
Feats: Improved Initiative
Traits: Damage Reduction 4/Bludgeoning, Night Vision, Darkvision (60 ft.),
Immunities
Combat: Attack +1 (Dex), Damage +1 (unarmed) or by weapon,
Defense +2 (Dex), Initiative +6
Saving Throws: Toughness +1, Fortitude —, Reflex +4, Will —
Damage Reduction +4/Bludgeoning: Sand Golems lack flesh or internal organs, making them resistant to cutting and piercing weapons.
Immunities: Sand Golems are immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, disease, and mind-influencing effects (including mind influencing powers). They are not subject to critical hits, non-lethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, or any effect requiring a Fortitude save, unless it works on inanimate objects.

A Sand Golem maintains what ever shape it was given at creation whenever it is “at rest”. This can be virtually any form from an indistinct pile of sand to an ornate sandstone statue. Once activated the Sand Golem forms in to a swirling humanoid shape attacking with hardened punches formed from its own swirling mass. Sand Golems can not swim, but can walk along the bottoms of still lakes or pools. Rushing water (and high tides) will disperse a sand golem destroying it in 3 rounds.

Intelligent sand golems may use arms and armor for which they have training. Sand Golems can not use fire arms or other gear that is sensitive to grit.

Example text...

Evelyn Drake, a level 1 Expert and level 1 Adept, decides she might need some help entering the Cave of Mystery. On the bank of the nearby stream is plenty of sand. Evy spends two minutes shaping four sand golems in to plain humanoid shapes. She doesn't need them to be particularly sneaky as she is alone on this expedition. If she desired should could have used Craft checks to form the golems in to artistic shapes--for example, stylized dogs, gargoyles, or as 3 chairs around a small table. Once complete she mentally commands the squad to follow her and protect her from any creatures in the cave.

Being an explorer can sometimes be a lonely road. Evelyn desides to craft an intelligent Sand Golem to be her friend an ally to guard her arcane library. Evy decides that the construct needs to at least have a +1 Intelligence. This raises the cost of the golem to Wealth 31 and the difficulty to DC to 24. Evy is going to need to roll a 20 this check, but she has nothing but time and decides to "take 20" by extending the construction time to 20 days and adding +20 to the Fatigue check. This stretches the young adept to the absolute limit of her powers. The new Sand Golem is created with Str +1 Dex +2 Con- Int +1 Wis +0 Cha +0. It will only be a level 1 Construct. It will automatically possess the Weapons Training Feat and Evy selects the Light Armor Feat. With the extra Int, the golem gets 3 skills each at +4 ranks, but only from skills that Miss Drake knows. She picks Knowledge History at +5, Disable Device at + 5 and Notice at +4. Evy would like to have some one to discuss history with plus the golem could perform research while she is away. Evy believes that "Sandy" could also be useful at disarming traps, since golems are immune to many effects and finally Notice since all guards need to be able to spot things.

Sandy is created as a free-willed construct begining as Friendly to Evelyn. The two begin a long chat about history. Miss Drake is a gifted student and conversationalist. After a few hours, Sandy and Evy are great friends. Sandy is excited to have a whole library of history to explore. Sandy is not a human intelligence. She has no need for food or shelter. She is aware of her own consciousness and will act to maintain it, but it as an imprint of Evy's skills and spirit, Sandy will be satisfied with life in the library as the ultimate chance to study forever. How will the relationship hold up over time? Only time will tell what may befall such odd friends in Adventures of Doom.
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Adventures of Doom is a True20 pulp setting placed in 1935 near-history. See other posts with AoD tag for more info.

The Pharaoh’s Heart: An Adventure of Doom

2008-11-13T15:23:00.002+13:00

Real History:

Dr. James Henry Breasted was the first American Egyptologist and a professor of the University of Chicago. After 70 years of ground breaking research, Dr. Breasted died on Dec 2nd, 1935. Breasted was in the forefront of the generation of archeologist-historians who broadened the idea of Western Civilization to include the entire Near East in Europe's cultural roots. Breasted coined the term Fertile Crescent to describe the archaeologically important area from Palestine to southern Iraq (inclusive).

AoD History:

James tragically dies in January 1935 after a long illness after returning from a 2 year expedition in Egypt. In his fevered distress the old archaeologist manages to write a six page rambling letter to his friends, Guy and Devon Lareux. The letter is strange and often illegible. But it appears the old man is worried some secret will be lost on his death. He needs the Lareux brothers to recover the secret, but nearly mad Breasted doesn’t mention where or even what the secret is. The letter is postmarked from New York.

Guy and Devon decide to send their agents, Evelyn Drake and Joshua Spectre to find the doctor, unravel the mystery about the secret, and report back to Chicago. Evy manages to secure a favor from the pilots of Chicago Aeronautic Club (CAC) to lend her and Spectre a plane to travel to Big Apple where the duo spend a couple of weeks chasing down various leads to the lost historian. Eventually, Drake finds Mrs. Breasted staying at one of finer Manhattan hotels. They arrange a polite tea where Mrs. Breasted and Miss Drake hit off well. The good doctor is dying and is being kept at a reclusive hospice just outside the city.

After several hours of patient interviewing and visitation, Evy learns that James appears to be concerned about a lost artefact called “The Pharaoh’s Heart” which can only be found by his old friend—a janitor at the University of Chicago where the object has been hidden for some 20 years. James is guilt stricken and seems to be confessing something about a man named Kinkaid who he credits as finding the Heart.

Spectre and Drake return to Chicago to discover that the janitor James spoke of is dead and has been for a number of years. After searching the professor’s office they find a key. After talking with some of the college staff they come to suspect that the janitor had spent a lot of time in the endless steam tunnels under the college. It is quite possible something could be hidden down there.

A search leads them to an old locked door. The key from James’ office fits and the two enter a series of storage rooms obviously unused for at least 20 years. The rooms are full of relatively normal Egyptian artifacts. Evy can tell that while each is authentic, they are not particularly noteworthy. That is, until a pair of matched stone jackal statues come to life and attack Joshua. The fast and fleet footed young ninja quickly kicks the two in rubble. Room after room uncovers more strange and mysterious encounters until they reach the last door.

The last room is laid out in a perfect representation of an Egyptian tomb complete with sarcophagus, statues, scrolls, and chests. One corner of the room is laid out with an odd arrangement of candles and a single statue of Osiris. Miss Drake knows enough about archaeology to know these objects are not like the others and are out of place. While the room contains a number of gold objects, again nothing is particularly unusual aside from being in the basement of a Chicago campus. But the chest at the foot of the coffin reveals the secret. It contains the Pharaoh’s Heart still encrusted with the dirt it was found in. But the real secret isn’t the Heart itself but the accompanying documentation. The Pharaoh’s Heart is dated at 4000 years old and was found in The Temple of Isis located in… Arizona. A staggering find to the intellectual world.

While the two ponder what the full impact of this will be, the tomb opens and a living guardian of sand erupts to attack. The shifting nature of the creature makes edged and ballistic weapons useless, but Josh has come to possess a mysterious ornate knife that seems to be able to hurt the creature. After a tense combat that severely wounds Spectre, Miss Drake lands the final blow disabling the creature. The open tomb reveals the body of Gerald Kinkaid, the lost adversarial colleague of Dr. Breasted who found the Temple of Isis in 1918 and disappeared soon after.

The discovery heralds the awakening of Kinkaid’s “ghost” who tells the pair of his discovery and subsequent betrayal under the college. Using the objects stored from his discoveries he followed an ancient ritual to make him immortal. But the result trapped his mind a small statue of Osiris which is now bound too. Kinkaid is an excitable Scottish soul who agrees to journey with the pair to finally uncover the temple in the remote deserts of the American Southwest. As a twist, no one can perceive the spirit save Evy and Josh.

When the two adventurers return to tell the tale, Guy and Devon are excited by the prospect of more lost treasure. Lareux Procurement could certainly use the cash!
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These notes are taken from a game session of Adventured of Doom; a True20 Pulp RPG setting. See other posts with the AoD tag for more details.

The 3 faces of RPG

2008-11-04T20:37:00.003+13:00

I was thinking about this the other day wanted to capture the thoughts. For about any Role Playing Game there is are 3 fundamental styles that give and take in a 3-way triangle in much the same was at Cost <-> Quality <-> Time. For an RPG these elements are Roleplay <-> Simulation <-> Game. These 3 elements exist to some degree in each RPG, but can be seen more clearly in extreme examples. But first a quick definition of what I mean.

Roleplay: This is the aspect of the game that is not a game. The desire of a participant to act out a role. No mechanics are necessary for roleplay--you just make it up based on your idea of the character and the world.

Simulation: This the degree that the RPG attempts to model reality. While all RPG's are fictional, some try very hard to model real-world physics and other real features. RPG's with a strong emphasis on simulation are usually modern military type games, but even pure fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons attempt to simulate physical combat with complex systems design to estimate chances of success and resulting injuries.

Game: This is like Simulation, but not so much. This is the aspect of an RPG that is not based on reality and makes the RPG play more like a game and less a simulation or a roleplay action. An extreme example is chess. In chess each player is controlling a king's army, but each piece must follow rigid rules about how it moves on a grid. This does not simulate reality in any way and there is no emphasis on playing in character (roleplay).

All 3 elements combine to create a variety of RPG experiences from very rules light (tending to be strong roleplaying) to very rules heavy (tending to be miniature based combat simulations). Whether any particular game is enjoyable will depend entirely on the player's preferences.

I liked the idea of the 3 elements because I think it might be useful in describing games to other potential players. Personally, I like a game with more roleplay and game and less simulation. So if I were reading a review of a game that was rated 10 for Simulation, I might infer that game was designed for a different kind of player.

Nothing all that profound... Just random musing.

Game On!

The Quest for Atlantis: An Adventure of Doom

2008-11-02T19:48:00.006+13:00

Atlantis is a legend as old as the art of story telling. It is a concept that has captured the imagination of billions for several thousand years. The history of Atlantis would appears to begin with Plato our earliest documented reference to the lost city of the sea. But something about the idea of Atlantis has resonated with us. Perhaps there was no city named "Atlantis" full of technological wonders and an advanced culture. But what if the rest of it were true? We have many references to lost cultures. Eden, the Land of Nod, Thule, and dozens of others. Could the human race have lost something so long ago that now our stories of it are broken, blurred and scattered?

Science itself is confronted with strange oddities that can not easily be explained. Often these anomalies are boxed up and tucked away to be quietly forgotten. If it can not be explained, well then it probably was a fluke. But the flukes add up and the pile becomes larger. Few have ever considered the sum of all out-of-place artifacts. But in 1935 tensions are rising. Millions are without work and Nationalism is out of control. Any hint of a new power or lost science is quickly (and quietly) investigated by the desperate nations of the world. The Nazis would kill for it. The Brits would do anything to keep it from the Nazis. The Yanks need it to end the Depression. The Vatican would see it destroyed. Russia would bury it and use it in secret. The Empire of the Rising Sun would use it to build the greatest war machine seen in the East. The world would go mad for it.

Perhaps the origins of mankind go back further than anyone would guess. Maybe evolution was only half the story. The other half of story may be buried in the deserts of Egypt, the Temples of the Amazon, or even high Himalayas. The quest for Atlantis is not a search for a lost city beneath the sea, but the search for the lost origin of Man. But the story of Atlantis is often a tale of warning. Uncovering too many secrets too soon might bring down the same destruction that doomed those poor souls so long ago. Who will unlock the secrets? What world power will rise? Who will fall in... Another Adventure of DOOOOM.
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Adventures of Doom is a True20 Pulp RPG set in 1935 and designed for family play. Check other posts with the AoD tag for more.

Rockefeller "Rock" Ross, An Urban Legend in Aventures of Doom.

2008-10-31T10:25:00.007+13:00

Rock was a legend in all the newspapers as an explorer. He has been all over Egypt, Persia, the Amazon, and the wilds of Africa. Reporters around the globe have tried to follow him to capture the story of discovery. But none of them have ever volunteered twice! Rock seems to always stumble across lost tribes of cannibals, ancient curses, and temples on the precipice of doom.

Guy and Devon Lareux tell stories of Rock every week to the whole staff of Lareux General Procurement. They claim to have met the man just after the War when he was still a young whelp. The way they tell the story, Rock got his start working with the brothers in Africa. But they also mesmerize the staff with stories of his further adventures.

But all the stories stopped 2 years ago. Rock announced he was on to a great new discovery which he kept very secret. But he disappeared only a few days after his announcement. Most folks assumed he took off in secret as he often did. But no one has heard from his since. The world still wonders what happened to Rock Ross, the Man of Adventure!

Adventures of Doom is a True20 Pulp RPG set in 1935 that I am developing for family play. It is designed to be non-gritty, contain themes appropriate for my 9 year old, and still entice my wife to play.

Yamada Taro, An Urban Legend in Adventures of Doom

2008-10-28T10:12:00.005+13:00

Chicago has always been a city with a reputation—a beautiful city with a dark side. Organized crime has always thrived here, but never more so than through the 1920’s with the rise of Al Capone and Liquor Bosses. Mr Capone has long been away in Alcatraz and the mafia has lost much of its power, but it remains. With the shift in power, other groups have managed to increase their influence in the windy city. High among them is the Yakuza—the Japanese mob.

The Yakuza specialize in human trafficking and opium. What is unusual about the Yakuza is their rigid discipline and culture of honor and respect. The Mafia’s Code ultimately crumbled with corruption and greed. The Yakuza are like machines—cold, calculated and efficient. Targets are identified and respect is paid in full or the result is often worse than a single death.

One of the more unique features of the Yakuza is the employ of Ninja. At first the Ninja were considered a joke. Who would fear some crazy Japanese in masks? Many foes have now fallen to the secret order known only to the Yakuza. Their methods are supremely subtle. Almost no one knows when a Ninja has been used to eliminate an obstruction. Where the Yakuza is obvious and usually messy, the Ninja are barely a ripple on the water. Overnight their targets suddenly comply or utterly disappear. Often the threat of hiring the assassins is enough to weaken an opponent.

The Master of Assassins is Yamada Taro. He is the only Ninja in Chicago who works independently of the Yakuza. While this causes some ire in the crime organization, they can not deny he is the best. Yamada-san comes at a high price, but he has never failed. The legend of how to hire Yamada is well known. Rent the penthouse suite at the Broadmoore Hotel—a dive hotel on the upper west side of Chicago. The clerk will offer you two registers. One of the registers will be new containing no other entries. If you write your name in the new guest book, Taro will find you in 3 days to hear your offer. Payment is demanded up front. The word on the street is, if the price is too high, then Yamada makes you disappear. Do not summon the Devil lightly…

Adventures of Doom is a True20 Pulp adventure setting based in 1935 Chicago.

Fright Night 2008 - Wellington

2008-10-26T20:16:00.006+13:00

So after a bit of searching I've found a pretty cool gaming group here in Wellington. While table top gaming has certainly spread around the globe, it is not exactly "main stream" in New Zealand. The relative remoteness of the country combined with the overall lower population base makes gaming a relatively rare past time. But I also think as a result of that, the game enthusiasts I have found seem more open and more mature than a lot of others I've known.

NZ doesn't really celebration Halloween in any fashion. But these guys and gals have come to appreciate a good horror game to mark the season. They have established a "Fright Night" mini convention in October which I was just lucky enough to get in to due to a late drop out.

Fright Night is broken up in to two sessions of about a half dozen one-shot adventure games of various styles. The two games I got in to were Geiger Couter hosted by Micheal Sands and Hot War hosted by Sophie Melchior. Both games were based on systems I had not played before. The underlying theme in both was the idea that player who overcome an obstacle in the game get to then decide what direction the game takes next. I've dubbed it "collaborative" style--although I think you might also call it "interactive."

The first session game was based on the Geiger Counter system which is designed to facilitate the creation of a classic "survival horror" movie. Mike picked out the idea of a viral meme overtaking human hosts and our group of 7 players was off.

Eclipse Mining Station is about to confront terror when the Princess Dawn cruise liner arrives with more than a message of of a plague stricten Earth--it transmits the plague itself. Viral nanobots make the jump from computer virus to attacking the original computer--the human brain. Infected victims are driven to blood and revenge and there is no where to run. There is no one to hear you scream. There is only darkness in the Total Eclipse.

Each of us created a character concept roughly iconic in the movies. I was Dallas a heavy industrial engineer--big, bald and black. Dallas was smart, hard working and always looking for that way in to early retirement. Eclipse station was 4 years of hell, but the pay was extraordinary. But when the station is plunged in to chaos by a nano-virus. Dallas takes his opportunity to raid the station vaults of the mined gold. But Dallas had to confront the menance in the station hanger bays. Using the massive cargo loader he fought to a stand still as wave after wave of infected zombies were crushed in his claws. In the end even the powerful man and machine couldn't hold them off. Dallas crashed over a tower of fuel barrels and blew it all to hell.

Mechanically, each player started with 2 six sided dice. Each turn one of the player would get to create a "scene" involving one or more other characters, but not their own character. The scene would resolve itself in some natural way and then the next player would make up a new scene with other characters. As things progressed the characters confront "the menace" where the player rolls their 2 dice and some one else rolls for the menace. If the player rolls higher, then the player can describe how they beat the menance. If they fell then the player must pick a "condition" from a short list--things like "lost", "pursued", "injured", etc. The conditions dictated what kinds of scenes their characters could be set in to next and if there would be advantages or disadvantages.

The second session was a game based on the Hot War game/setting. In Hot War the world outside London has been wiped away. World War III erupted in 1963 in an exchange of weapons more terrible than just nuclear bombs. Twisted weapons stolen from the crazed Nazi laboratories were unleashed one after another resulting in a world distorted and completely changed. The near dead still walk as soldiers, the boundaries outside London simply seem to warp in to nothing. People who leave the edges of reality never return.

Sophie had a number of pre-gnerated character to use. One of them was an American Air Force pilot, Brad Harris. Since I was the only American at the table, I felt it was a sign for me to play Brad. You have to remember that here in NZ, I am the one with the funny accent. Kiwi's all sound normal to me now, but I guess I still sound funny to them. But it was good. I didn't feel weird or anything. It was a good game. Mechanically, Hot War was similar to Geiger Counter, but more tradionally directed by the GM. Hot War came pre-loaded with a lot of great flavor.

The whole thing lasted from about 4:30 to midnight. We played in an old historic building called Turnbull House right next door to the Beehive building. This is conveniently 3 blocks from Wellington Station so it was super easy for me to get there on the train. It was coincidentally a bit rugby night and I did have to tolerate a number of happy drunks on the train... haha! But it was a great time.

Interface Zero: An Exploration

2008-10-25T12:30:00.002+13:00

What is consciousness?
Is it self awareness?
How can you tell that another thing is self aware?
What makes human self-awareness different?

These are the questions I pose in a series of explorations in Interface Zero. IZ is a world projected along our darkest future. A world where nations have fought many "limited" nuclear wars, billions have died from biological weapons and the human race is simultaneously saved and doomed. The secrets of gene modification, nano re-fabrication and Artificial Intelligence have been unlocked. But these miracles have not fashioned a new Utopia--they only seemed to have pushed the human condition to grotesque extremes.

The human-machine interface has blurred to the point where all people perceive both reality and virtual reality at the same time. The information network that started with the Internet has spread to become a ubiquitous network of everything overlapping the whole world existing in both real terms and as a separate plane known as "the Deep". Some choose to live in absolutely virtual worlds, but most live in an enhanced reality blend from the two--a very few have no ability to sense the Deep. The Deep is everywhere, everywhere you look, every object you touch can have a representation in Deep that you perceive through your eyes in exactly the same manner as you perceive this message. If you could see in to the Deep you might see these pages as ancient parchment or perhaps in floating neon blue lettering--all based on your preferences. The real document might simply be a stack of white papers or perhaps a small data chip with nano transmitters connected to and part of the Deep. The Deep is powered by the mass networking of all CPU's of all devices known on Earth. Most objects right down to paperclips have small CPU's buried in them. Some places in what used to be called Japan have released processors so small they float in the air like dust. In these places the Deep is thick and impossible to filter out. In the nuclear wastelands between China, Pakistan and India, the Deep is but a faint echo where you'll be lucky to raise a single voice comm.

Nano technology has progressed to the point where nearly everyone has access to a fabricator that can re-assemble similar matter in to what ever the user requires. Grass clipping, rotting protein, and a handful of dirt can be re-assembled in to edible healthy foods--even flavorful foods if your fabricator is an expensive model. These wondrous machines can even create clothing from nearly any fibrous materials. Style-patterns are downloaded from the Deep (for a price) and the user can choose whatever she wants in whatever simulated fabrics she wants. All machines can make the basics necessary to survival for free. But despite these daily miracles, the human race is not better off. It seems all these machines really do is perpetuate squalor and suffering. The world economy can not employ the vast majority of workers. Billions are left idle, clothed and fed. Gangland wars are perpetual. Most are essentially homeless living in derelict urban districts below the upper cites where the luckier wage slaves live. Only your friends care if you're hurt and some of them might be more interested in your stuff after you're dead.

The boon of technology has fused biology with machine. All humans have TAPs installed in their heads for interface to the Deep. But this meshing with hardware extends to full prosthetics, eyes, internal weapons and skill upgrades. How far this can go has yet to be fully explored.

But mankind was not satisfied with just the Deep and nanofabrication. Humanity also choose to alter itself. The genetic code has been solved, mapped, rendered to component parts and fashioned anew. Humans can now select exact traits both before and after birth. In the Amazon Wars, genetically enhanced warriors are used for the first time taking science in to a darker art form. The goal in warfare is to eliminate the enemy--no semblance of humanity is required. Chimera are born. These radically altered "humans" possess a variety of outlandish features designed to kill--period. Generally only used in battle and always with gruesome effect, these creatures are often shunned by society. But still the pride of man was not complete. Man created Simulacre. Wholly biologically copies of humans with artificially limited mental capacities to be an endless source of labor--a new race of slaves. Each Simulacrum is designed to fill a purpose and die in a limited time. The new labor force quickly replaces any need for Human workers. Simulacre are cheaper, require nothing but nano-replicated food and clothing, and are fully recyclable. Any tasks considered too unsavory for humans to dirty themselves with directly including prostitution and suicide combat squads are given to Simulacrum. Lastly, man created AI. A necessary technology to administrate the vastly complex Deep and civil systems to control the exploding populations of the major cities. AI control all traffic systems, power, communications, entire manufacturing facilities and even some military applications. However, science wasn't entirely naive. AI programs are closely and intensely monitored. If any sign of self awareness and creativity are expressed, the AI is brutally eradicated and copies burned.

Corporations control the world's economy. City-states and nations are cowed before policies of embargo and arms races. Humans lucky enough to work inside the megaconglomerates are the elite of the world. These individuals are rich beyond the wildest dreams of "sprawlanders" (those that survive on the toxic streets of the new cities). These executives make decisions that doom millions to death, starvation or war. Anyone working for a corp as a wage slave only knows that they could be instantly cast aside in to the gangs wars, nuclear wastelands, or (worse) experimental biological testing. Employee satisfaction surveys are high... always high.

This is the world, such as it is...

My proposal is to create a few iconic characters based on IZ (True20) to explore both character abilities and a few philosophical questions. Since it would probably be impractical for folks purchase the True20 core rules and the Interface Zero setting, I would create characters for use in certain one-shot stories. These stories are likely to explore the Deep, sentient AI, Simulacre and Chimera. I will attempt to run these via live chat primarily. But I would also use materials posted, emailed and maybe even a virtual table top app (one of the free ones if I do). I'll probably try to kick off a True20 how-to session with Skype or phone calls or something where I can talk you through the system--unless you happen to have the rules. Interface Zero is a setting based on the cyberpunk genre seeded from inspirations like "Ghost in the Shell", "The Matrix", "Neuromancer", and "Blade Runner." The characters I want to test are Hackers, Martial Adepts, heavily modified humans and AI's. I might foray in to heavy military machinery.

Who wants in?

Joshua Spectre

2008-10-22T21:42:00.014+13:00

Level 3 Warrior (True20 Character)

Joshua Spectre is the only son of a dock worker and hotel maid. He grew up in Chicago living a fairly tough life, but was always physically adept. He always seemed to come out on top in a scrape and had a knack for interacting with the urban jungle. At a very young age he caught the eye of a wise oriental man. Unknown to Joshua, the man sent word to a teacher in the East. On Joshua's 14th birthday he was invited to train in a remote school of Japan. With no understanding of the unusual offer, Josh took it.

Two years later Josh has returned to Chicago. His training is not yet finished, but he had to come home to help out his folks during this Depression. But his Sensai has kept an eye on him and will continue to teach his young student. He sees a great destiny in him.

Stats:
STR: +2 DEX: +3 CON: +2 INT: +0 WIS: +0 CHA: -1

Saves:
Will: +1 Fort: +5 Ref: +3
Toughness: d20 +2 Con +3 Combat +2 Armor = d20 + 7

Skills:
Stealth (Dex) +9, Climb (Str) +8, Jump (Str) +8, Sleight of Hand (Dex) +9, Acrobatics (Dex) +9

Feats:
Martial Weapons, Rage (+2 Str, +2 Fort/Will, -2 Def), Attack Focus (Unarmed), Stunning Attack, Improved Speed, Improved Strike, Ki Dart

Core Ability:
A warrior can spend a point of Conviction to immediately erase all bruised and hurt damage conditions (and their associated penalties).

Attacks: Base +3 (Combat) +3 (Dex) = +6
Punch/Kick +6 for damage +2
NunChuk +6 for damage +4
Sword of Destiny (Katana): Damage +5 (sheathed non-lethal, blade lethal)

Light: Blade is +1 Positive Energy DR
Honorable: Blade must not be drawn unless it is use (blooded). Blade must not be used on targets with no Honor. The weilder can sense this.
Contracted: When the blade is used in a contracted kill, the victim is plane shifted.
Defended: Warrior can shift 2 points of Attack Bonus to Armor Bonus (+3 Attack +2 Armor Bonus)

Defense: Base 10 +3 (Combat) = 12 w/Parry +2 = 15 or w/ Dodge +3 = 16 (Weapon Armor Bonus +2)
Light Leather +1
Ninja body suit +1 to Stealth

Evelyn Drake

2008-10-22T14:40:00.021+13:00

Level 1 Expert / Level 2 Adept (True20 Character)

Evy's slight frame holds a frighteningly compelling woman of young years. Highly educated at Radcliff she has studied archaeology. While Evelyn’s family is not well-to-do, her Aunt Alice was the first female professor at Harvard. Alice mentored Evy through Radcliff.

Evy's father was a well travelled global purchasing agent for Marshall Field’s based in Chicago. Mr. Drake raised Evy’s as a single father following the death of his wife when Evy was only two. The young girl spent most of her life with her Aunt on her mother’s side, Alice Hamilton. Her father taught her to fly aircraft, to shrug off limitations, and how to shoot just in case.

Miss Drake currently resides in Chicago and works for Lareux Procurement.

Evy can quickly capture the attention of men and women, but never seems to lack for men willing to do her favours. Men find it difficult to pull their gaze from her and often hang on her every word.

Combat is a rarity for Evy. Most men can not bring themselves to be physically violent with the disarming woman, but in the rare instance it becomes necessary, Evy has been fully trained to use pistols, rifles and shotguns. In the field where danger appears to be inevitable she carries a shotgun for guaranteed close combat success and a pistol for general defence. But, more often than not, Evelyn only needs to politely suggest that fighting isn’t necessary and this is usually enough of a distraction that the matter resolves itself long before she has to actually fire a shot. In game terms, Evy can paralyse a non-threatened target with Fascinate and then use Suggestion to completely avoid combat.

While out of combat, Evy can make a lot of friends very quickly—especially male friends. She has a 1 in 4 chance to convince neutral strangers to offer genuine help (small amounts of cash, rides, personal information, shelter, small gifts, etc). She has roughly a 50/50 chance of convincing a man who was sent to kill her in to only making sure she leaves town (as a hypothetical example). The odds with women drop slightly, but they are still quite good.

Due to her college education Evy is great judge of human nature. In some cases she may gain bonuses to social interactions where she can employ both her natural charm and her keen intelligence. Years of field and college study have given her a broad understanding of history. She has about a 4 in 5 chance of knowing common historical facts (like when the Romans occupied Alexandria) and roughly a 50/50 chance to know details (like how big the Roman army was, where it camped, what important artefacts is may have carried). She has a naturally cautious nature and can occasionally spot traps and tricks, she is much better at stopping and systematically searching areas. When she does find a trap she has slightly less than 50/50 odds of disarming a basic threat. Since there are many “issues” around access to historically significant sites, Evy has learned to “avoid interest” by sneaking in unseen. She is no master of stealth, but would in time become quite difficult to notice for average guards.

Stats:
STR: +0 DEX: +1 CON: +0 INT: +3 WIS: +0 CHA: +2

Saves:
Will: +2 Fort: +2 Ref: +1 Toughness: +2

Skills:
Disable Device (Int) +8, Knowledge (Human Behaviour, Int) +7, Knowledge (History, Int) +8, Pilot (Dex) +6, Notice (Wis) +5, Search (Int) +8, Diplomacy (Cha) +7/+11, Bluff (Cha) +7/+11, Sense Motive (Wis) +4, Gather Information (Cha) +6, Stealth (Dex) +5, Medicine (Wis) +5

Feats:
Fascinate (Diplomacy), Suggestion (Diplomacy), Firearms Training, Attractive (+4 to Diplomacy and Bluff vs. Men), Defensive Roll (+1 Toughness Save, Spirit Guide (Ghost Familiar)

Powers:

Summon Sand Golem,

Core Ability:
An expert can spend a point of Conviction to gain 4 temporary ranks in any skill, including skills in which the expert is not currently trained or that cannot be used untrained. These temporary skill ranks last for the duration of the scene and grant their normal benefits.

Attacks: Base +1 (Combat) +1 (Dex) = +2
Shotgun +2 (+3 inside 30') for damage +5/+6
Browning 9mm +2 for damage +3
Unarmed +2 (non-leathal) for damage +0

Defense: Base 10 +2 (Combat) += 12 w/Parry 0 = 11 w/Dodge +1 = 13
Leather Jacket +1
Toughness Save bonus: +1 (Leather Jacket)

Spirit Guide: Kinkaid
Kinkaid was found trapped a steam tunnel vault oned by Dr. James Breasted underneath the University of Chicago. Originally of scottish ancestry, he died while sealed in the vault along with the artifacts of his discovery--a discovery so shocking the academic world ignored it. But the US commission of sensitive information paid closer attention. They pressured Dr. Breasted to seal Kinkaid away. The ghost has progressed through various stages of existance in the 20 odd years he's been dead. But recently he discovered a link through Evelyn. Her connection to him has provided new awareness to the world of the living as well as given him doorway to the other spirits of the dead. Evy found rituals that would bind the two together forever. Kinkaid agreed to be part of her adventures and protect her as long as he was able.

Like... WoW, man!

2008-10-16T21:32:00.003+13:00

Hey, Warcraft has just release the pre-patch to launch their Lich King expansion planned for November. All I can say is... WTF?! Blizzard gets a release out *before* Christmas? Inconceivable!

This patch installs many of the features that are going to be seen in Lich King. While I'm sure we'll have to purchase the release to play in the new zones and get the raised level cap, Burning Crusade players can still see many new features. Everybody gets new Talents. There's now a new Profession, Inscription, and literally hundreds of other enhancements. Its virtually a whole new game.

I was pretty stunned. After many months of game disappointment, I was surprised to find new life in a game I was sure was overplayed. But I guess I should have learned to expect more from Blizzard. WoW still delivers. If you have an account and you've been waiting for the expansion , well you sure don't have to. The pre-release content is pretty cool. Re-activate and be ready enjoy it, then enjoy it all again with the pre-Christmas release.

Game On! For the Horde!

Savage Worlds

2008-10-09T08:47:00.003+13:00

I've let all my MMORPG's expire. I was getting pretty tired of them and nothing new has really come out. I spent all my game money on Warhammer, but that sucked and I'm not even playing it. So I have retreated to the comforts of my table top systems.

I picked up the Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane well before I moved. I flipped through it a bit, but didn't really get a chance to read it. I had read some good things about the Savage Worlds game system and knew eventually I'd come check it out. So now is a good time.

I have only read through character creation so far, but I like it. It is not quite a "simple" as True20, but it is certainly designed to be an easy and fast system. It has a number of game elements that look like great fun (like using playing cards for initiative). The basic mechanic of d4 to d12 ability progression also trips my triggers as I like lots of dice and I was beginning to fear that the d20 focus was going to eliminate the "lesser" dice. I'm happy to have all my friends back at the table. I will do a more thorough review when I've read and play tested it, but so far the production quality on this book is excellent. The rules are easy to understand and it appears that game play would be fun and fast. A great combination!

d20 Modern: Tweaks and Tips

2008-10-07T22:35:00.004+13:00

This is an old system with many flaws. I've documented "house rules" before, but can't seem to find them. So I'll post them here quick. For the record, I'd recommend you ditch d20 Modern for True20--all the same benefits and fewer flaws. However, I'd take the Dramatic Chase rules from Spycraft.

#1: Dump cross-class skills
Characters get to spend skill points on any skill that any one of their classes knows 1 for 1.

#2: Wealth Check multiples
Every doubling of quantity adds +2 to the wealth check Purchase Check.

#3: Wealth and Cash
Sell the suitcase of money as if it were an item to determine if the cash amount has any impact on the character's wealth score. Alternatively, let the players keep the cash for other purchases.

Warhammer Online: The Age of Suck

2008-10-02T07:13:00.003+13:00

I'm in the first 24 hours of owning this game and I regret it. Several things have already gone wrong.

#1 The disks shipped to New Zealand and Australia contained an image flaw that broke the install. There were multiple versions of a patch available. It took me a long time to find the description of the problem and ultimately find the right patch. The patch failed several times before I decided to reboot. Patch worked and the game would now load... 4 hours after install.

#2 The game is buggy as heck. It frequently locks up, disconnects, or fails to display objects. The client flat out refuses to close when I select quit.

#3 When it is working, it feels clunky. While the detail is pretty good, the animations seem unconnected... like the models are not well placed in the environment and they don't relate well to each other.

I'll update more as I attempt to play...

A quick summary of Spycraft 2.0

2008-09-30T16:20:00.003+13:00

I wrote up a summary for Spycraft for posting on another board and then realized I never captured it on my blog... Here's a repost.

On the far, far other end of the simplicity vs complexity scale is Spycraft 2.0. SC2 is *advanced* d20. While initially perplexing, once you finally grok it, SC2 is stunning in its integrated mastery. The fundamental goals of SC2 were deep character development, fully integrated rules (mechanics that are consistent and lend value in many rule areas), and to quantify what the GM can do.

Key Features:
SC2 is still fundamentally d20 based, but the Skill tree is radically altered, there are all new feats, all new vehicle chase rules, there are in depth player organization rules, a very unique take on Player vs GM game play, and an intensely different equipment/gear system. Basicaly, SC tried to plug every clunky hole WotC made in d20 3.5 and they did a pretty good job. It will be quite hard to adequately convey the complexity of Spycraft in a brief. I'll be as clear and simple as a I can, but you're going to have to seriously examine the rules for yourself to fully appreciate the system.

Classes:
There are a bunch. Spycraft is designed to be a modern spy adventure game and as such the classes fill specific action-movie themes. Indeed, the entire frame work is often described in terms of an action movie. These classes cover the range of action heroes like Guide (Indiana Jones type) to Spook (CIA spy type) to Field Scientist (MacGuyver type). There are 10 basic classes and something like 8 Expert classes (advanced classes). The power level of these characters is much higher than equivalent level d20 Modern classes (or True20 classes). But that just means everyone is pretty good from the first session (and everyone is therefore roughly equal).

HP / Damage:
Spycraft uses the Vitality/Wound Point system very similar to the one used in Star Wars RPG. A character Vitality represents incidental damage or fatigue while Wound damage is more serious and deadly. For those unfamiliar with V/W Points, your Wound Points are typically fixed as equal to your CON score. Thus even high level character can be laid low quickly with 15 points of Wound damage.

Combat:
Hmmm... where to start? Combat is vastly expanded. There are many new actions and details about when to use actions. Initiative is overhauled and can actually be variable between combat rounds. There are no less than *40* individual combat actions from Aim to Withdraw. Combats between matched foes is always going to be an Epic battle. SC recognizes the difference between Villians and Mooks. Villians will have real combat stats including Vitality and Wounds. Mooks don't. Often mooks can be mowed down in droves. The combat mechanic for mooks is based on a damage save concept where the thug must save vs the damage dealt or just be dispatched. This is designed to simulate the way guards are just knocked out in the movies.

Powers:
While there are no true spell-like powers in SC, many of the effects are still fantastic in ability. These are often explained away as super spy gear or simple class abilities. But these rarely have any limitation on use. SC does use a concept called "Action Dice" which are awarded at the beginning of every session which are usually required to activate anything really special. But more on Action Dice later as this is a key mechanic of the game.

Skills are vastly expanded and go a fair ways to filling the void left by Spells. Every skill has a family of sub-skills, where buying some points in the skill gets you some points in all the sub-skills too. But the sub-skills may use different key attributes. For example, Falsify is a skill with 3 sub-skills called Forgery, Disguise and Cover-up. Disguise and Cover-up are Wisdom based while Forgery is Int based. Overall the skill system appears to replace what would normally be combat in a Fantasy game.

Money:
Here is one area that Spycraft is really different. It still uses a Wealth Check concept for minor game interaction, but also contains a vastly complex Gear Check system. The basic premise of most Modern games is that the PC's work for someone--the CIA, Omega Force, The Dark and Shady Corporation, etc. So it follows that the PC's are equipped by their employer. What you can request is a factor of your level and various feats that increase your request potential. Since much of the gear fills the niche of ultra powerful firepower ala magic items / spell casting, this mechanic is essential to control the raw destructive power of the characters. While at first look the Gear system seems overwhelming, it actually becomes masterfully elegant as a game design mechanic.

Fudge Factors:
Okay... here's the nitty gritty. The over-arching concept to Spycraft is that all "missions" have a Threat Level associated with them that is actually a mathematical calculation of the number players and their levels. This sets a numeric value that becomes the seed for virtually all other mechanics in the game. Once the Threat Level is set, this number becomes a modifier to virtually every "default" DC in the mission. So for example if the threat level is 5, then the DC to unlock basic doors become 15 + 5 throughout the game. You just add 5 to all the variable DC's. This works surprisingly well and allows you to instantly scale any adventure to any sized or leveled group. Brilliant! This Threat Level also ties in to the Gear Request system to define what (and how many) items the players can request.

Another brilliant concept is seen in Action Dice. On the surface, Action Dice look like Action Points/Conviction Points... basically tokens the players can uses to boost die rolls or generally save their butts. Players also use AD to instantly confirm critical hits and critical failures. So if during an attack the player rolls a 20, they can spend an Action Die to instantly make it a critical hit or if the GM rolls a 1 while attacking the PC, then the player can again spend an AD to confirm that the 1 is a fumble of some sort. What is really interesting about this mechanic is that the GM is awarded Action Dice based on the number of AD possessed by the players. The GM has to use his dice to confirm threats as well. This makes being a GM slightly more strategic as it quantifies when the GM "exerted force" in opposition to the players. If a GM wishes to use more AD than was originally awarded, then he must give the players bonus AD to compensate. In fact, the game assumes the GM hands out more Action Dice as a way to keep the game action packed.

Lastly a quick summary of what I think is the most broken aspect of all RPG's... bad chase mechanics. Spycraft again delivers a brilliant system to handle chases without time consuming distance/speed calculations. Actions in a chase are broken down in to basic strategies that are selected in secret by the players and the GM and then compared. Character abilities affect how well the strategies work and then GM / Player make opposed Skill checks (usually Drive Skills) to determine the result. The results modify a 1 to 10 point pursuit scale where 1 means you've caught the prey and 10 means the prey escaped. SC re-uses this strategy selection mechanic for Seductions, Infiltrations, Interrogations, Hacking, Brainwashing and Manhunts.

I was really impressed with Spycraft, although I am still somewhat intimidated by its complexity. I fear even a very good GM would spend a lot of time reviewing rules at each session. But once you got it... It would be like d20-zilla... uber-gaming at its most hardcore. I hope the guys at Crafty Games hold out. They got some Good Stuff.

Facebook

2008-09-24T22:37:00.003+12:00

I thought I'd post a quick note about joining Facebook. I expanded my social networking Fu by casting my gamer net over Facebook. I hauled in several fun widgets like "Tiny D&D" which has rekindled my desire for the old pen & paper game. I'm just plain ol' Curtis Owings on Facebook. Come on over and installed Tiny D&D.

I also joined the RGPLife site which has many social networking aspects, but is more RPG focused. It's a new site and just getting off the ground.

I downloaded Battleground RPG demo client. It is a virtual "table top" environment for over the Internet gaming. You basically play the old table top games over Skype and use BRPG to be the game table for diagraming physicial situations, sharing maps, etc. Might be cool... I'll have to get some play testers.

Virtual Morality

2008-09-22T11:05:00.005+12:00

I’ve played a lot of games for a lot of years and recently I discovered that I have a whole set of ethics around gameplay. Besides the obvious “no cheating” standards I realized there are many more ethical considerations. As I thought about it more I began to see a recent evolution in these ethics. I am sure one could probably do a great deal of research in to the area of simulated morality. These are just some of my thoughts.

With the creation of MMORPG’s has come the creation of “guilds” or team vs. team play. Fighting other players is as old as DOOM, but the advancements made in the last couple of years have been significant. In DOOM (and most first person shooters), there is very little personal loss (if any) to character death. At most you lose some play time as you wait to re-spawn. But old school MUD players will remember how character death often meant complete loss of all your cherished items and some if not all your wealth. Ultima Online was one of the first graphical MMORPG’s to continue this as a concept. But this type of cut-throat ethic only appealed to a small market. This in itself could be examined in more detail, but as UO was interested in more subscribers and more revenue it experimented with ways to alter the player vs player game. And thus an era of game ethics and player psychology has been born.

Each and every MMO game developer has now had to consider what morality it will enforce and what animosity it will foster. WoW has created the two sides with limited areas of allowed PvP and even goes farther by allowing players to choose completely non-pvp (called Player vs Environment PvE) servers to play on. Other MMO’s have chosen to allow only special zones where combat is essentially free-for-all. Few graphical MMO’s adhere to the draconian “lose it all” style, but some come pretty close. EVE Online losses are limited to only the ship the players happen to be in. Ships are very specialized and most pilots have dozens of ships so even this loss is far from “total”.

What is more interesting is the self imposed ethics of players. Despite all these options and all the tweaks developers make to encourage/discourage certain behaviour, the openness of RPG allows players to decide for themselves what actions to take. You can even include some external game activities in this set of simulated morals. Some games allow for the trade of in game currency for additional play time (e.g. EVE Online). Players are allowed to buy game codes good for 60 days and sell them in game for ISK. While completely allowed by the game developers, many player see it as “cheating” and will not. Many players, even when playing games with strong PvP elements, refuse to engage—struggling through PvP as an extra obstacle in what is for them a largely PvE game. Entire guilds/groups are organized around common game play ethics. Few disputes can shatter the members of a guild than a sudden radical shift in game ethics.

I can see how these concepts can branch out to creating whole new fields in predictable psychology. Game developers will need to be keenly aware of what their target market desires in terms of game morality while at the same time allowing for players to break the morality. We get to see first hand fledgling gods of creation introduce evil in to the virtual world.

What are your game ethics?

Game On!

Scammers

2008-09-15T15:10:00.005+12:00

I suppose that any game where folks will put in years of play time creates a whole new playing field for scammers. I don't have a lot to say about it other than "yeah, I've been scammed before." It can happen to you.

I have never lost actual money, but I can sure see how it could happen. Most MMO's have strict acceptable use policies (AUP) that forbid ever using cash to buy accounts, gold/credits, items, etc. Although, in spite of those policies the virtual blackmarket is awash in illicit goods. You can literally buy whole accounts at top "levels" with the virtual equivalent of billions of dollars for enough real cash. Just don't get caught. The trick to not getting caught seems to be as simple as keeping your mouth shut.

These transactions happen in some obvious places like eBay, TradeMe, etc. But often they happen on one of the millions of game forums. It appears that while most game developers know it occurs, they can't devote much time to enforcement. Some of the schemes around these transactions are pretty grandiose. One site offers trade in a virtual currency called "forum gold." On this site you don't trade real cash, but rather credits... then you use your credits to buy other account goods. One step shy of ever using cash and interesting as it allows the trade of goods between games (i.e. I'll trade you my 70th level WoW Warlock for 2 top level Guild War accounts).

All of these trades are under the table and leave the buyer with no recourse should things go awry. Some developers, like CCP (EVE Online) seem to turn a completely blind eye to blatent scammers on their own forums. CCP goes out of their way to warn players that they do not interfer in game credit transactions and offer no guarantees of safety. As long as actual cash is not trading hands, they don't care.

The scam I fell in to was the "lottery" on EVE's own forums. I bought a "ticket" for 25 million ISK (game currency) for a chance at winning a billion ISK ship. But the lottery never happened and the 30 some players that gave money just lost it. 25 million ISK is a chunk, but not really crippling. CCP is completely aware that many (if not most) lotteries are complete scams... but they don't step in. It's part of EVE.

My advice to gamers is, unfortunately, to avoid these dark alleys. Look around... how many dilweeds do you see smoking dope and playing the latest crack MMO while jobless? Uh huh... a lot. Well just like crackheads they need money to play and they are not above stealing it. Aside from pothead frat boys, also consider that $20 USD is large sum of money in Taiwan or China. The origin of the "gold farmer". These economies can actually sustain human beings a living wage on 10,000 gold for $50 USD. But again, once the money is in their account there can be no guarantee the gold will ever show. Plus I worry that in the secret archives of data and transactions that the dirty deed is forever recorded... a ticking time bomb to sudden account closure.

Stay clean... Game On!

Manifest Thanatos

2008-08-05T10:28:00.002+12:00

Well, it finally happened. I slowly ground out enough ISK to be within throwing distance of buying a Carrier in EVE. My original intention was to wait until I had enough ISK to buy the carrier and not be broke afterwards. But as I hit about 850 million ISK, I found a Carrier for sale at 844 million. It was up on contract in the Everyshore region.

Besides being a great price (as carriers are going for over 900 million commonly), Everyshore is where I started playing EVE. It was the location of my first corporation and where I learned most of the ins and outs of the game. It was where I first researched my goals in the game and decided to go for Carrier. At the time, I really didn’t know it would take 3 years of playing to reach that goal. Now, I’ve play a lot of EVE, but only a few hours a week. Many other players have rushed to Carrier in less than a year. But I dilly dallied along the way and took my time.

I still have yet more training and probably another 400 million ISK in ship fittings before I would feel minimally qualified to fly it. But I did make my first cyno jump last night (that’s how Carriers travel) and I have it safely stored in a station where I can run out fittings to it.

In the next few weeks I will manufacture Fighters, purchase Capital repair modules, pick up a number of other fittings, scads of support drones and drone modules and deliver them all to my hanger. I will probably have to purchase a Blockade Runner Transport ship (Viator or Prorater) to make safe deliveries in to Low Security space. Carriers can only exist in Low Security—places in EVE where there is no interference to pilot warfare. I will also be maximizing key skills to improve survivability.

I am the Great Masada Akiva, Carrier Pilot of EVE.

Game On!

I got a fEVEr for more cow bells

2008-07-28T23:06:00.002+12:00

Nothing much to see here. I'm still working on making ISK in Eve so I can get that dang carrier. Masada can now take the Level 4 missions from the Royal Khanid Navy agents in my corps home. That means I can make a ton more ISK with missions. Still, I can only make about 40 mil a day. I need about 700 mil and that's nearly 20 days... bleh. Plus I don't really play every day.

As for training. Masada is on Gallente Cruiser V and Porter is still on Long Range Targeting V. Masada will qualify for Heavy Assault Cruisers (pretty bad ass) in about 2 weeks. Porter will qualify for Logistics ships in about 5 days. A Logistic ship is like a "healer" of the space ship world. They tend to make the ships they support seemingly invincible. But we'll see.

Otherwise... not much gaming going on. I might be teaching Gabe Magic the Addiction... er Magic the Gathering. I don't even know if they still make it.

Game on!

nEVEr Really Stopped

2008-07-16T17:00:00.001+12:00

Okay, okay… I never really stopped playing EVE. I have cut way back and then recently got sucked back in again. Mostly I have kept up my active training. I did have to make a few changes.

After more than a year, I had to leave the EVE corp I was in. The membership had dropped off to near nothing and my odd playing time in New Zealand kept me at an opposite schedule to them. I went searching for a new corp to actively play in and actually ran in to an old EVE buddy still playing, Domitianvs. He has stayed mostly in Empire space (safe space) since I began my career as a 0.0 pilot (not safe space). He is still hacking at Empire space in a new corporation called East Khanid Trading. That’s the last Empire region in the “south” before you get to the might Band of Brothers controlled regions (the dreaded BoB). They have a nice outfit with a ton of good perks that you don’t often see in the more “advanced” 0.0 corps. Here’s a linky… http://www.eastkhanid.co.uk/.

You’ll note that they are UK founded and therefore exactly 12 hours off my time and that really works out. 8:30 PM my time is 8:30 AM there time and they have several students and part-timers online. They seem pretty cool and I’m glad to have an old buddy and some new things to do on EVE.

Porter’s training is currently on hold while I train Suky Tawdry up as a Cyno field pilot. That’s a special pilot you need to open a jump target for Capital Ships like the Thanatos I want to buy. Masada is training up a lot of skills for carrier prep and other things. Masada’s Amarr faction standing was very low so I trained up Diplomacy so that I might be able to take missions to raise it. I also finished off Assault Ships 4 as a pre-req to HAC’s and to just be better in those ships. Mas is probably a week shy of my full Carrier train goal. But I still need a good 700 million ISK to fund the purchase and fittings.

I have a full carrier plan all worked out. I know where I’ll likely buy the carrier, the jump plan to pick it up, the mods I need, the Fighters I’ll fit, the fuel I need and the number of Cyno pilots and locations I’ll need them. I’m hoping to negotiate a safe location with a 0.0 alliance for storage. That way I can perhaps gain access to 0.0 space and trade jump services. I’m pretty close to getting that carrier and that’s what’s keeping me playing now.

Game NO

2008-06-19T11:23:00.002+12:00

Well since I got back all I have been able to do is flip skills in EVE and run about 2 missions. Work and home are now both becoming too busy to allow much game time of any sort. I have gone ahead and canceled all accounts. I only have the one EVE account now anyway and it will expire here in a few days.

I think I'll try to do some cool gaming type things with the kiddo. He retains quite a bit of tension though. A game of Jenga nearly kills him, but he loves it. I wish I could find some other 8 year old games he liked. So far I seem to be pretty limited to Trouble and Sorry. Both are a bit below my interest threshold. But then it is hard to walk the line between a game we can both enjoy where I like very complex strategy games and he is... well 8. Maybe Break the Ice... I wonder if he'd like LIFE.... hmmm...

Anyways, with little time to game... that will probably make game blogging pretty lame. If free time returns I will of course pick up again.

So for the rest of you, Game ON.

EVEntually

2008-05-29T14:01:00.005+12:00

I played out Porter's account to the end. She is now expired and on a 30 day train to Minmatar Cruiser 5. Eventually, she will be ready to fly the Minmater Force Recon, the Rapier (above). It will take a fair bit to increase her gunnery to Tech 2 Projectiles, but she already had T2 small Projectiles so stepping up to mediums on the Rapier will not take long. She already has all the other supporting skills.

That account expires and I will be on vacation away from computer gaming for 2 weeks. Eve has the nice feature of allowing even expired accounts to continue on their training until they complete.

When I return from vacation I will most likely activate my Masada Akiva account and continue to work on his combat skills for missioning and general ISK generation until I can buy a carrier. I have recently discovered that my little back water low security system is less than 14 lightyears from Gultran (a TOG Empire haunt). That means I have easy to acquire resources in my system and an easy to reach friendly market some 25 hops away. That may create market opportunity. If I had a carrier. But like all things in EVE... EVEntually it will come.

Game On!

EVEr Onward

2008-05-21T14:45:00.005+12:00

I forgot to mention that my Eve corporation decided to split from the BRUCE Alliance. One of the primary things EVE has going for it is the entirely player driven politics. The shape of EVE is defined by the players. More than 50% of the galaxy is controlled solely by player corporations and alliances. These relationships shift frequently and often spill over in to your little corner of space. The BRUCE Alliance was huge. It quickly grew to over 1500 players. But just as quickly it faded. Although, I suspect there will still be good things to see from BRUCE. By the way, BRUCE stands for BRUtally Clever Empire.

In EVE you control star systems by building permanent structures and hold them. If you hold a system long enough, you become "sovereign" and can then build an Outpost Station. Stations can never be destroyed, but you can lose control of them. Stations generate vast wealth as they tax every one that uses them for repairs, market sales, refining and production. They are the power base in EVE. An alliance is then defined by what space it has established sovereignty in and how many Outposts it controls. You can see a map of territory (updated weekly) here...

http://sov.eve-dev.net/maps/influence.png

Each of these colored blobs is a 100% player controlled alliance with sovereignty of the systems contained with in. Each of the faint dots is a star system with up to a dozen planets, asteroid belts, moons, stations and other features. Eve is huge.

BRUCE established itself by appealling to the "good guys" in Eve. We all rallied behind the ideals and the leadership of the alliance. But then the guy decided sunshine was preferable to Eve super-stardom. When the leadership changed... the alliance disintegrated. There are still shards of it, but it probably will not be able to hold what it has taken for much longer.

My corp leadership decided to move on. But I hope BRUCE does well.

By the by... the pictures I post of Eve are all real screen shots. That Providence picture below is quite large if you click on it. You can spin 360 degrees horizontally and vertically around that ship and change camera views throughout. Eve is graphically very nice.

Game On!

ForEVEr

2008-05-19T11:15:00.005+12:00

So I spent all my game time this weekend playing EVE. I let the subscription on my main combat pilot expire so I have been limited to only my industry focused alt, Porter.

This weekend reinforced what I dislike most about EVE though... it takes forever. This is even more painfully obvious in the comparison to the speedy Guild Wars. I do like Eve, but I aways feel like it is just this close to being fun.

I was feeling eve-y this weekend so I logged in Porter. I had her based out of the Zoohan star system on the edge of Amarrian Empire space. This is a "safe" zone with high value asteroids for mining. But I was mostly alone and profits/motivation were low. Most of the other players I know were based about 30 jumps away (roughly 30-50 minutes travel) from where I was operating. But since I was sick of being on my own... I figured I might as well move over to them. I caught up with a pair of buddies that are power mining for enough minerals to build a pair of freighters.

A Freighter in Eve is the pennacle of raw volume shipping. It is a billion ISK asset and a long term goal. It is kind of cool. I say "kind of" because they really don't have a lot of great functionality. They are really, really big and they move really, really slow. They have no armament or defenses (they fit no modules) and in a small corporation like ours, they see almost no use. But hell... why not? I have trained Porter to fly the Providence Amarr freighter which while of no combat value, is one of the most majestic ships in the game (above). These two yahoo's in my corp were building the Charon--which can actually haul a bit more, but isn't nearly as cool.

Anyways, I packed up all my useful gear and moved the 30 odd hops to mine with them. The zone they are in is quiet and sparsely populated. It isn't a particularly valuable area, has no strategic value and is a blend of low security and high security. In low security zones you can be shot by other players anytime. In high security you can only be shot if you're in a war or if the attacker is prepared to commit suicide to gank you--rare, but it happens. This is not the same as 0.0 space or no security. 0.0 space has really high value asteroids and random belt "rats" (NPC ships you kill for bounty and loot). But this zone is not in (or even on the way to) 0.0. This makes about all activity in the zone harder (cuz at any moment some dork could kill you) but not high value... But whatever... we are not a power corp, but we are tough enough to scare away small groups of unmotivated gankers. Plus our territory is pretty worthless.

Regardless it was fun to mine with friends and it brought back the memories of why I play this stupid game to begin with. The team effort is amazing. When you finally find a way to make something work and profit from it, it is a boost to fun. In Eve, where that boost may be a loooong time coming, its like a double boon.

After they logged out, I moved more of my stuff to their home system and began mining and some production work. Since that's all Porter can do, I'll play around with it for a while and see how it goes. My account runs out at the end of May. I'll be on vacation the first 2 weeks of June. It will be interesting to see if I come back to Eve at all. But I probably will...

See ya later... til then... Game On!

TOGgle On? Check!

2008-05-09T09:58:00.005+12:00

So I found a large game community of "mature" gamers. Called TOG, The Older Gamers, it appears to have members around the globe and in to virtually every video game ever known to man... including those extinct for a generation... Hehe... I guess that makes me old too. Anyway, I've linked them under Gamey Link to the right and I'll give them a go here for a while. A couple of my online buddies have been in their group for a long time so they come well recommended.

I am still enjoying Guild Wars (not unexpected in only 3 days!) I have also discovered that after buying one boxed set, you can purchase the rest online through the log on interface. In NZD that adds up to $60 per title. But then the shelf price was $90 per title. So that is a savings to me! Still I'll hold off a bit on further purchases.

Game On!

Fee-less Adventurer

2008-05-07T09:15:00.004+12:00

I've been looking more seriously at Guild Wars. It looks very WoW-like, but no monthly fees! My webivestigation has determined it is probably not quite as vast as WoW and may have less overall content. But hell... it's free. I have enjoyed WoW, but occasionally I do become morally offended by the notion that even after spending hundreds of dollars on the game, I can't play it for free yet.

I'm thinking of doing a common build of Elementalist and Mesmer--generally refered to as a "Nuker". BOOM BABY BOOM! (obscure Tick reference) ((Tick is an obscure comicbook reference))

Guild Wars is sold in 3 "chapters"--Prophesy, Factions and Nightfall. You can buy any of them and play online. Each chapter allows you access to more zones and content--plus skills, classes and other goodies. You can play in PvE and PvP in any chapter. PvP looks to be more arena-style were you can fashion a top level character immediately or use your PvE developed character. There is also an "expansion" called Eye of the North which I guess is like a mini-chapter.

Regardless... there is a fee-less world out there. My new quest is to find the land of the Free.

Game On!

Game-less

2008-05-02T09:37:00.002+12:00

Still in a bit of a rough patch gamewise. I still have one active WoW account, but I can only rarely catch my friends back in the states. The timezones conspire to only allow me to find play time when it is like 2 AM their time.

I cancelled both EVE accounts. This saves me nearly $40 a month and I need it. Besides I wasn't playing nearly as much. My laptop's wireless access card (EVDO) tanked and that makes it hard to play both accounts which you need to do in order to make any sort of solo game progress. Again, my timezone shift and knocked me out of playing with the folks I knew. Plus EVE is a very slow game. It takes forever to accomplish even small progress.

Work has been just busy enough to de-rail any planning on Adventures of Doom. Although, I'm hitting the point where I'll just have to wing it.

Grand Theft Auto IV just launched here in NZ. I have no desire to buy a Playstation 3, but the game looks good. I'm sure someday they'll release a PC version (PC for Personal Computer, of course, since there can be no more un-PC game ever).

Warhammer Online has derailed to late Fall 2008 and that probably means "maybe before Christmas." So that's out. There are virtually no titles on my radar worth looking at.

I'm actually thinking of falling back to Texas Hold'em.

The game I have been playing the most often now is Tetris on my cell phone... that's how desparate it is folks.

~Game On!

Armageddi-CON

2008-04-18T14:35:00.003+12:00

I'm taking the family to Armageddon Expo this weekend (http://www.pulpexpo.com/). It looks like a nice little gaming conference with a few fun bits tossed in. I think I am most excited to see the game/hobby stores represented, but all of it looks pretty fun. There are lots and lots of video game activities. While I know my son will love it, I am a little concerned that leaving will be torment on him. Hopefully we get a good long while to play. The TSB Arena is only a short walk from the train station so we can take the train and save parking, etc. Although... considering the median age of attendees will be around 15, parking wouldn't be an issue!

I'll post updates after we've been. Game on!

The Desert of the Now (or WoW?)

2008-04-15T11:14:00.002+12:00

I have been playing a little WoW still. I had a 55th level Rogue that I thought, "what the hell" and started leveling up so I can at least get in to Outlands (gotta be 58th level). I have managed to catch a few of the guys from Nebraska online so that's been cool to play and chat with them.

I've kept EVE active, but I'm only flipping skills when they are due. This is probably cool long term, but it isn't making any ISK for me. At this point, I'm not sure what to do with it. Ah well. I'll probably just set a couple of long skills (45 day trains) and cancel the sub. Maybe I'll come back to it.

Otherwise, I've been writing. This directly interferes with posting time and game time. But I'm sure I'll have more to post soon.

The WoW that won't Die

2008-04-07T11:46:00.004+12:00

My wife's account gracefully expired and I stopped playing Warcraft. But then, like a group of drunks all going out on a bender, my old friends started playing their expired accounts again. So again I re-upped my subscription. Only this time I did my account. Most of my history in WoW has been on PvP servers starting on Daggerspine and moving to Nazjatar (after a Blizzard free move offer to uncrowd Daggerspine).

Our guild was Clarity of which my main was probably the 2nd member. My main was the oldest character on Daggerspine and I suppose by extension the olded main in our group. That character is now a 70th level undead warlock named Melongrim. I played all the classes extensively, but like warlock best. I guess I just like evil-against-evil themes. Plus the free mounts were the best looking in the game.

My other characters on the same server are Sharphoof (70th Druid), Shagreal (62nd Priest), Violated (55th Rogue), Lunna (40th Mage) and several others all lower than 40. Thankfully I can report I have no 70's on other servers, although I do have a 40 on a PvE server.

World of Warcraft recently expanded to 2.4.1 which added a new 70th level quest zone and some new Instances. *Shrug* I don't know... seems like more of the same. I'm not particually impressed. But there just isn't much else out worth playing. It is nice to talk to the guys again though. That's really what I play for.

See y'all around. Say Howdy to Melongrim if you see her. Hopefully you're not Ally...

Game On!

1935 - Adventures of Doom

2008-04-03T21:19:00.003+13:00

I originally focused on 1935 as a game setting as it was just before World War II and I thought that the war would be an adventure rich backdrop for a table top game. It would be current enough to have many modern conventions (phones, cars, plane, fire arms) but still be limiting when required. It would also have a recognizable political landscape with America, Europe, Asia, Australia, etc all more or less similar to what we know today. Also it is the middle of the Great Depression--plenty of fodder there too. But as I researched the year more, I became immersed in the shear enormity of this key year (at least to American history). Here's a few zingers...

Folks born in 1935:

Elvis Presley
Bob Denver (aka: Gilligan, born the day after Elvis)
Donald Sutherland
Gene Wilder
Phil Donahue
the Dahlia Lama

Interesting events of 1935:

Amelia Earhart flies to Hawaii non-stop from CA
The Lindberg baby trial begins and ends culminating with Hauptmann's execution
The Dust Bowl storm hits April 14th
Social Security Act is signed by FDR
Germany breaks the Treaty of Versailles and re-arms ignoring the UN
The Luftwaffe is created
Howard Hughes sets the air speed record of 356 mph
Babe Ruth retires
Goddard uses gyroscopes to stabilize rockets
RADAR is developed for military use
Fascism crops up in virtually every country in some form
The Boulder Dam completes
Parker Brothers launch the Monopoly board game

This is only a small taste of this year. The mid 30's is also the era of Bonnie & Clyde, Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger. The Hindenburg commercially launches in 1936 and is destroyed in its infamous crash in 1937. The great inventor Tesla is still alive and living in New York. Egyptology is just taking off although 1935 will see the death of America's first PhD in Egyptology, James Breasted. The events go on and on and on. It is a fantastic era. I hope to have a lot of fun with it.

Dark Dungeon

2008-04-03T13:55:00.007+13:00

For random reasons too trivial to explain I thought of this old comic religious tract today. It was quite easy to find at http://www.chick.com/ which apparently still seriously publishes these ridiculous comics.

This particular still is from the "Dark Dungeon" tract talking about the "occult" game Dungeons & Dragons.

Little Debbie here on the left has apparently received her Mind Bondage spell from her DM (on the right). My old game group used to raz the Hades out of our DM for our Mind Bondage spell... ah... good times. We never got it. We never did any of the cool stuff. Mostly we just laughed a lot and burned a lot of candles--can't be a dungeon without candles. We also drank a lot of very bad beer (we were all well above 21). On the whole we were about the most wholesome game group around. We even bathed often.

Anyways.... Folks don't talk about D&D being a gateway to evil anymore. At least none of the folks I talk to. D&D is just releasing 4th edition and is now owned by Hasbro. If anyone still thinks otherwise, then seriously, take my word for it, it is just a game. Just a game.

And to my old DM, Aaron... That was a great game! I can safely say that quality of my life has been vastly improved. Those hours of relaxation and just general goofery are some of my happiest memories. Thanks for all the hard work!

Evelyn and the Spector in the Adventures of Doom

2008-04-01T21:28:00.007+13:00

In 1935, Devon and Guy Lareux decided they needed a pair of "acquisition specialists". The antiquities business had turned more competitive since the Great War. With trouble brewing "over there" again they thought it best to leave the more dangerous retrievals to younger souls.

It was a warm Chicago summer day when Evelyn Drake responded to their ad. She had excellent recommendations from her instructors at Radcliffe and even a letter from the famed Alice Hamilton--the first woman professor at Harvard. She was petite, blond and appeared vulnerable in a way that always inspired men to help her--she rarely needed it. She was well dressed, but Devon was a shrewd judge and could tell by her worn luggage and scuffed Marshal's boots that she was probably wearing her only "good" dress and a gifted hat. She was a trained pilot, well educated, young and capable. She was perfect.

Joshua Spector was in nearly all ways the opposite of Miss Drake. He was tall and muscled with rough features and dark eyes. His father worked the docks. His mother worked as a maid. His clothes were worn, his knuckles scraped and he needed a shave. Still... he had other talents. He had just returned from Japan after training with the old masters--quite a rare opportunity for an American. Devon smiled as he remembered a favorable wager he had placed about the youth with his brother, Guy. Devon recognized a diamond in the rough and the surprise discovery of Josh's training and proved him right. Joshua had an uncanny ability to slip in unoticed. He virtually disappeared in the dark. He could jump like a cat and kick like a mule. The junk katana he picked up from a second rate Chinese trinket shop became a deadly weapon in his hands. After proving himself in retrieving Old Gilmore's map and key, Guy had been satisfied as well. They hired Spector.

Thus begins the Adventures of Doom... a pulp fiction table top roleplay game. Set in 1935 Chicago just before WWII and in the middle of the Great Depression.

In their first adventure, Evelyn and Joshua retrieve a stolen talisman from the Rising Sun Hotel from the Yakuza controlled Red Fist Gang. The pair sneak to the roof where they subdue a wandering guard. Then proceed to the small "penthouses" of the hotel's 4th floor. Although stealthy, the hyper alert gang members spot Spector. But the young ninja takes them down quickly. Evy takes down her own guard and knocks out the loud-mouth gang groupie in the hall. The last man to deal with is Big Mosaki. Josh swings at the mountainous man who ducks the blow. Unfortunately he ducks right in to Miss Drake's improvised chair attack. The chair smashes across his face leaving him staggered and easy for Spector to finish off. The pair retrieve the talisman and return to Devon victorious.

Conventional

2008-03-27T08:47:00.005+13:00

So last weekend (Easter) there was a big Sci-Fi conference called Conjuction held here in Wellington. I did not go. It was freaking $100 and then you got to add in costs for everything else you wanted to do. While it did look interesting, I did not find out about it with enough time to really plan for it. It did have a writing contest I was somewhat interested in and several writer workshops. But still... $100. Once I get in a better swing of things here I may hit it next year.

So there is another gamey type con coming up in April called Armaggedoncon. Details at http://www.pulpexpo.com/. This one is only $15 to get in with no contests or workshops. The most exciting thing is a VIP dinner with one of the guest celebrities for $120. Now dinner with a working film star (even if they are small ones) would be pretty cool.

Pulp expo looks nice for Gabe too. I think it will be a fun thing to try out. It is a easy walk from the train too. Mostly it looks like a swap meet. The other fun notable is the "world's largest" Star Wars costume club will be attending. I've always secretly wanted a Storm Trooper costume. I mean... who doesn't? I scoff at all those loser trekkies with their pansy spandex. Give me full-on body armor, baby! No limp wrist palm-sized stun gun. I want the big FU blaster rifle! Ahem... anyways... I think the kiddo will like it.

On game news... WoW interest is fading. EVE is meh. I got the kid Godzilla for the Game Cube--it is pretty cool. For True20 tabletop gaming I have worked up a pulpy 1935 campaign idea based on Indiana Jones and just general World War II coolness. Gabe wants to be a ninja... perfect. *grin*

Game On!

Not Happy Camping

2008-03-17T13:38:00.003+13:00

So I decided to focus my game time on Eve again. I have two computers running fairly well and using both accounts helps to make ISK (credits). While I have been attempting to kill rats for bounties, this rate of income is slow and getting boring. I thought I'd go back to some industry and mining. The problem here was that I didn't have all the right ships or modules to re-fit for industry. I then decided to use a good sized chunk of my remaining 200 million ISK for a new tech 2 hauler, the Impel.

The Impel is an Amarrian vessel and one of the better haulers in the game. With a good module fit (seven Cargo Expander II's) the total payload is 27,400 cubic meters--just 100 m3 short of a full jettison container. I bought one off a fellow corp-mate and proceeded to pilot it back to my main base of operation where I was close to the resources I would be mining. Porter Thorne is my industrial based character and while she has a good 10 million skill points, virtually none of it is in combat. On the way back the server lagged horribly. I was basically stuck 2 systems out from the safety of the station. I couldn't log in. No problem really as I could always come back later. Well about 2 hours later I did come back. I logged in with no issue. Porter loaded okay and my ship appeared on screen... right in the middle of a huge attack fleet. She was instantly killed and podded. I lost the 60 million Impel and the 40 million cover ops ship and modules I was carrying in the Impel... Nothing like a little 100 million ISK set back over a server issue... I am not amused.

Later I did manage to get mining set up. It was riskier and slower because I didn't have the Impel, but I did manage to pull out about 40 million ISK in minerals. Annoying and unsatisfying. But it if my luck improves then I can make ISK faster than ratting... but we'll see. I forgot to mention that I lost my battleship in an PvP engagement the day before... another 100 million ISK set back. Tough week in EVE.

I almost decided to drop out of the alliance I'm in and move back to safer Empire space. But I know that if I did that, my income potential would plummet. Even so... I've also been considering dropping the accounts. It's a gaming lull at the moment.

Game On!

What am I playing?

2008-03-13T08:08:00.002+13:00

I still plunk around with World of Warcraft. I'm going between two servers. A long while ago I ran up my wife's Horde Shaman to 60th level on a PvP server (Nazjatar). She (the toon, not my wife) whomps buttock. I like the dual-wield Enhance-o-shammy. She's a glass tank, but I'm addicted to the occasional sudden death this build can produce. The other character I'm playing is on a PvE server, Muradin. Bicklefitch is now a 22nd level Draenai Mage. Mostly I just like the nice graphics and exploratory nature of WoW with a little combat challenge mixed it. It's like reading a trash romance novel. It passes the time without profoundly altering the reader.

I'm keeping up with EVE. That is I'm keeping skills in training. I do try to rat now and then, but I tend to spend ISK about as fast as I earn it. I'm considering letting the accounts drop again. I wish there was a way to lease them out or something. Perhaps as an omen, EVE has been down for over 12 hours due to a patch. A more and more common occurance. I do not think the system can scale up anymore which continues to hinder it's long term life span.

Complicating the computer game play is a flaky video card. So when the lack of new/interesting game content combine with spontaneous reboot frustration... I retreat back to tabletop rpg stuff. I say "stuff" cuz I'm not really playing anything... just thinking about playing. I make sketch characters and think about game world concepts. Sorta sad really. Like watching a kid try to play baseball by himself. I'm focusing on True20. It looks fast to play and easy to use. I may steal a few elements from the not fast and not easy to use Spycraft. But I plan to be careful with that. Too much Spycraft would ruin the whole point, but SC has some nice self-scaling bits. Plus the "dramatic scenes" are too awesome to exclude especially for things too mechanically complex to work out like vehicle combat.

Play safe out there! Game On!

The Alpha and Omega

2008-03-11T12:02:00.003+13:00

Something in the long dark decays… A machine is dying. With emotionless panic the failover routines all attempt to re-route and self-repair, but the eon of neglect has finally eroded the last protocol. With a flurry of alarm messages sent to long dead watchdog systems the containment field drops. An amber warning light on the vault door changes to blinking red. An alarm klaxon sounds feebly sounds then trails off to silence.

Behind the door, if there were any being left to hear it, is a sound like a million million cockroaches clacking on dry paper. Within seconds a hole opens in the vault’s 200 mm thick door. The rest of the meter wide portal disintegrated in to a grey fog that floated down to the floor. In the span of a few seconds the fog swirls in to a disconcerting metal humanoid form.

Despite appearing like a robot, for lack of a better term, it moved erratically as if it were a swarm which is exactly what it was. Its face blurred forming a series of backlit eyes that seemed to emerge from inside its "head". The eyes floated along the surface of its body sweeping completely around a full 360 degrees. An "arm" stretched out, drew thinner and long than the other arm. A multi-fingered appendage glided over several keys blanking the screens on the alarm monitors.

The figure became completely still as if mercury could freeze. It sat inert before the blank terminal. One minute stretched to ten then over an hour. Nothing moved, no sounds echoed down the long empty subterranean halls. The solid state emergency "everglo" lighting designed to remain dimly lit for several millenia never wavered.

Exactly 24 hours after dropping in to passive state, the nanite colony Search And Destroy Omega (SADO) 9160, activated its final program—establish a ten kilometer perimeter and destroy all threats until an appropriate Alpha security device was presented. The still figure suddenly animated again. Eyes sprung forth from all parts of its body and SADO-9160 moved down the first cell block. At every one of the vault doors it pressed the amber buttons and punched an access code moving on to the next vault. Behind it vault doors melted and gray fogs emerged. There were 50 vaults in this block… and more blocks inside the target perimeter… The sounds of faint clacking drifted down the halls echoing louder with each passing second… if there had been any being left to hear it, they would have screamed.

First there was the Apple

2008-03-10T15:14:00.005+13:00

Having posted about the ultra-new, not even released yet, Starcraft, I thought I might spare a few pixels to post about a game so old that it only had 8 colors. While not the oldest game I played, it does goes way back.

When I was in school the best computers were all Apples. Not Mac's... Apples. The good old Apple II was one of the first computers that schools were given. My Junior High school had 2 in the library. They had no hard-drives, only floppy disks. A disk held 512 kilobytes of data. You stuck your disk in the drive and flipped on the computer. Sometimes (rarely) you had to swap disks.

Oregon Trail was one the first programs designed to teach kids while still having a bit of fun. It was really a very simplified simulation of migrating West on the Oregon Trail. You started somewhere in the East and bought your supplies and then struck out for the West coast. You chose in what month you would start. At various points throughout the game random events would occur for you to deal with. Sometimes members of your family turned sick and you had to rest. Sometimes your wagon broke down. On the way you could buy more provisions (if you weren't broke and if there was a place to buy them) or occasionally fate would be kind and give you some discovered supplies. There were some 16 landmarks on the way. These were forts or rivers. You have to decide where and when to cross. The whole journey is a race to make it before you and your family starve or the winter sets in.

While completely simple, the program does a lot to make you think about walking across a place as big as the United States. It makes you remember that medicine was not advanced and diseases common. Personally, I can't imagine now how someone then could strike out across so much unknown land. They risked their wives and children. Lots did not make it. And they just did it.

Anyways, it is good to remember that a fun game doesn't have to be intensely graphical. The world of game emulators is out there for the gamer on a budget. Perhaps from time to time I'll post about one I'm playing... But for now... I have to hunt up some more food while my family rests with cholera. It's 187 miles to Green River Crossing and might be 20' deep this time of year. Time to chaulk up that wagon and float her across--hope the oxen can swim.

Game On!