GENE: Campaign worlds and blogs in a state of flux
should have known better than ask zak regarding the eberron book.
anyways, i confirmed with the host and it seems that the computer is still down for another week. i guess the rest of the blog and campaign projects will likewise be on hold together with that. as of these. currently there are three blog projects which are trapped in limbo:
Tempest Feud: the crew of the Lee Hua are contracted by the neogi to take care of something for them in this blog version of the spelljammer 2004 campaign.
Shackled City: continuation of the adventures of Amun-Ra, Archibald VanDerBoren IV, Ian McLaren, Pharem Carrabhin, and Thariel Valkyrie in the city of Cauldron. based on a chain of adventures featured in Dungeon Magazine.
Sharn: Isabella, Laverne, Mother Butler, Augustus, Derek and Tsu Chow are transported in this conversion project of the Thorngate series into the campaign world of Eberron.
ZAK: FLUFF AND CRUNCH
Gene asked me to take a look at a copy of Eberron - the new campaign setting of the D&D game. I guess he wanted to see how salable the ideas found within the book are and on whether there are stuff that can be useful in the other project.
For one thing I think Eberron in a well thought of world. Umm… let me kinda reword that – Eberron is made up of stuff from a jumble of thoughts. I think it was made to clearly resell the D&D/d20 system and try to gain more sales on the existing books that WotC came up with. The book is riddled with tons of different stuff which touches on different books that have been published by WotC for the last three years. One would need to have a complete collection of the said books in order to fully make use of the stuff located in the Eberron books. It’s like one person said “why don’t we put this idea in” “cool!” and they place the idea there. Then later “how about this idea?” – a totally different one” and the reply would be “sweet!” and they place them in so the final product looks like a hodge podge of things. I do have to give credit to Keith Baker (the creator of the setting) for trying to give sense to all the stuff and elements that was put in the setting – regions, houses, intrigue and such. A good DM might be able to find, sort and modify all the stuff he needs in his campaign but otherwise it’s going to be a nightmare for some.
Basically, for me, much of the book was FLUFF. Too many interesting things were described but not enough explanation was given as to how to enable players and DMs to use them in their games. I guess I would fall into those type of players who have more need of CRUNCH (game mechanics) rather than FLUFF coz I think almost 20 years of gaming experience can enable one to easily make up his own setting and storylines and yet, it would take a great game designer to find new ways of using the d20 system to it’s full advantage.
Gene asked me to take a look at a copy of Eberron - the new campaign setting of the D&D game. I guess he wanted to see how salable the ideas found within the book are and on whether there are stuff that can be useful in the other project.
For one thing I think Eberron in a well thought of world. Umm… let me kinda reword that – Eberron is made up of stuff from a jumble of thoughts. I think it was made to clearly resell the D&D/d20 system and try to gain more sales on the existing books that WotC came up with. The book is riddled with tons of different stuff which touches on different books that have been published by WotC for the last three years. One would need to have a complete collection of the said books in order to fully make use of the stuff located in the Eberron books. It’s like one person said “why don’t we put this idea in” “cool!” and they place the idea there. Then later “how about this idea?” – a totally different one” and the reply would be “sweet!” and they place them in so the final product looks like a hodge podge of things. I do have to give credit to Keith Baker (the creator of the setting) for trying to give sense to all the stuff and elements that was put in the setting – regions, houses, intrigue and such. A good DM might be able to find, sort and modify all the stuff he needs in his campaign but otherwise it’s going to be a nightmare for some.
Basically, for me, much of the book was FLUFF. Too many interesting things were described but not enough explanation was given as to how to enable players and DMs to use them in their games. I guess I would fall into those type of players who have more need of CRUNCH (game mechanics) rather than FLUFF coz I think almost 20 years of gaming experience can enable one to easily make up his own setting and storylines and yet, it would take a great game designer to find new ways of using the d20 system to it’s full advantage.
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Thursday, July 1, 2004
GENE: DINOSAUR
the host was reading the (news)papers last night and a couple of articles surprised me. one was a book review section and it discussed how the dragonlance books, specifically the legends trilogy, changed the reviewer’s life (said reviewer is in high school and possibly reading the 3rd printing of the book). i read the legends when i was high school. it was one of my beloved books back then. how could i resist a story about raistlin (looks around the cranium to check if the raistlin persona is listening, wouldn’t want to stroke his ego) especially when it was about the him in the height of his power and his subsequent downfall.
another article which caught my eye was that magic the gathering (the collectible card game) is coming out with it’s 45th expansion in the coming month. 45th!!! it’s been around that long? why, i can still remember the time jd pulled out and gave away cards from the beta set. i wonder how one would pick his cards if they would still allow type one games.
of course, there was also the spider-man articles since it started showing at the local theaters yesterday. spider-man was around since i started with comic books. ageless! much like the new cartoon of the teen titans which is being shown on the cartoon network. even if it’s kinda different from the hard copies I collected back in the days, the general idea’s still there.
reading these articles is complex. for one thing, one should feel happy that all the stuff one loved when he was a kid is still there. however, it is also kinda sad that even if these sources of glamour are around, one cannot help to think that the amount gathered from them is still not enough to help one and those around him to stave off the effects of winter like it used to. maybe it’s just the fact that people change (read: grow old) and thus one must learn to adapt to things and events around him but he still needs to hold on to some things or else one would totally lose himself in the mundane ness of life itself and eventually be extinct like the dinosaurs they are now.
the host was reading the (news)papers last night and a couple of articles surprised me. one was a book review section and it discussed how the dragonlance books, specifically the legends trilogy, changed the reviewer’s life (said reviewer is in high school and possibly reading the 3rd printing of the book). i read the legends when i was high school. it was one of my beloved books back then. how could i resist a story about raistlin (looks around the cranium to check if the raistlin persona is listening, wouldn’t want to stroke his ego) especially when it was about the him in the height of his power and his subsequent downfall.
another article which caught my eye was that magic the gathering (the collectible card game) is coming out with it’s 45th expansion in the coming month. 45th!!! it’s been around that long? why, i can still remember the time jd pulled out and gave away cards from the beta set. i wonder how one would pick his cards if they would still allow type one games.
of course, there was also the spider-man articles since it started showing at the local theaters yesterday. spider-man was around since i started with comic books. ageless! much like the new cartoon of the teen titans which is being shown on the cartoon network. even if it’s kinda different from the hard copies I collected back in the days, the general idea’s still there.
reading these articles is complex. for one thing, one should feel happy that all the stuff one loved when he was a kid is still there. however, it is also kinda sad that even if these sources of glamour are around, one cannot help to think that the amount gathered from them is still not enough to help one and those around him to stave off the effects of winter like it used to. maybe it’s just the fact that people change (read: grow old) and thus one must learn to adapt to things and events around him but he still needs to hold on to some things or else one would totally lose himself in the mundane ness of life itself and eventually be extinct like the dinosaurs they are now.
RICO: GRUMPY
I'm really not sure but I think my lack of sleep is getting the best of me. I haven't really slept well in the last couple of days - primarily because i changed beds last sunday and attended the manila film festival awards night (of which the company i work with was a major sponsor). things have been rotten at the office in the mornings. it seems i have a very very short fuse 'specially when dealling with people who are just too full of themselves. normally i would just let any slight they would have pass but for the last couple of days i felt i just had to say something in their face to let them know they can't always get what they want.
*sigh*
i think i'm going to sleep early tonight just to break the trend.
I'm really not sure but I think my lack of sleep is getting the best of me. I haven't really slept well in the last couple of days - primarily because i changed beds last sunday and attended the manila film festival awards night (of which the company i work with was a major sponsor). things have been rotten at the office in the mornings. it seems i have a very very short fuse 'specially when dealling with people who are just too full of themselves. normally i would just let any slight they would have pass but for the last couple of days i felt i just had to say something in their face to let them know they can't always get what they want.
*sigh*
i think i'm going to sleep early tonight just to break the trend.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2004
RICO: Two weeks and my computer is still dead.
As suggested by the more technically inclined people I know, I tried changing the battery of my computer unit but still to no avail. I did a small experiment and removed the connections to the hard disk just to check if it was the one error but the computer still functioned the same way, so my assumption is that it’s more of a hardware problem rather than just an OS problem. I guess I have no choice but to send the computer to the repair shop.
As suggested by the more technically inclined people I know, I tried changing the battery of my computer unit but still to no avail. I did a small experiment and removed the connections to the hard disk just to check if it was the one error but the computer still functioned the same way, so my assumption is that it’s more of a hardware problem rather than just an OS problem. I guess I have no choice but to send the computer to the repair shop.
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Thursday, June 24, 2004
RICO: PERPETUAL STATE OF BLAH
My computer's still busted. It's not really that it can't be repaired - well I don't really know if it can be or not 'cause I just don't have it in me to get it checked up, and if necessarily, repaired. There's not even the drive to open it up and see what's wrong with it, much less, bring it to the shop at Alabang. Normally I would have been in a state of panic over not being able to use the computer at home. I have a guess on why: For the last couple of weeks, I've been in a perpatual state of blah - some sort of blank-ness.
I don't think it's burnout. That kinda has some sort of negativeness atatched to it. This state I'm in is simply ... um ... nothing. I can go on with my daily grind but when I stop I just get BLANK. Don't really know how long this funk is going to last but until it does I'm keeping myself busy with work, photography and volleyball.
My computer's still busted. It's not really that it can't be repaired - well I don't really know if it can be or not 'cause I just don't have it in me to get it checked up, and if necessarily, repaired. There's not even the drive to open it up and see what's wrong with it, much less, bring it to the shop at Alabang. Normally I would have been in a state of panic over not being able to use the computer at home. I have a guess on why: For the last couple of weeks, I've been in a perpatual state of blah - some sort of blank-ness.
I don't think it's burnout. That kinda has some sort of negativeness atatched to it. This state I'm in is simply ... um ... nothing. I can go on with my daily grind but when I stop I just get BLANK. Don't really know how long this funk is going to last but until it does I'm keeping myself busy with work, photography and volleyball.
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Thursday, June 17, 2004
RICO: Computer's busted ... again
*sigh*
it's that time of year again when my computer at home is acting up again. this time it just won't start. well, it powers on but doesn't do anything from there. i'm thinking on playing around with the battery later, but if that doesn't work it's off to the shop.
*sigh*
i guess all my projects will be temporarily put on hold until i get the unit running again. i guess we really are getting too much dependent on technology.
*sigh*
*sigh*
it's that time of year again when my computer at home is acting up again. this time it just won't start. well, it powers on but doesn't do anything from there. i'm thinking on playing around with the battery later, but if that doesn't work it's off to the shop.
*sigh*
i guess all my projects will be temporarily put on hold until i get the unit running again. i guess we really are getting too much dependent on technology.
*sigh*
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Thursday, June 10, 2004
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