BSP

This just in...

2009-12-22T13:01:00.002-07:00

I've deleted more spam comments from my last post than I have from the entirety of the rest of my blog ever. This is amusing to me.

James

Death's Door being discontinued.

2009-12-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm discontinuing Death's Door. It's had a good long run, and I've gotten what I wanted out of it as a designer and a publisher. Rather than carry the stock as a cost into another fiscal year, I'm selling off what's left, and if it's not gone by Dec 31, it's getting destroyed.

Which is to say: If you want it, get it now, because you'll not otherwise find it.

It's been marked down to $8.00 USD everywhere I sell it. IPR has about a dozen left, and I have a few at Blank Shield Press as well. I'd appreciate it if you go through IPR by preference; Ideally that stock will just sell out, and they won't need to ship anything back to me.

James

Yes, I want you to give me your candy.

2009-11-06T14:38:00.003-07:00

Had a fun game of Where are your keys? last night.

There were 6 of us in total, and we played through "What is that" to fluency, and then poked and stumbled through "Who/Whose is that?" and "Want, have, give, take." It was a lot of fun, and by the end of the evening, we had people using the game to trade around the bag of caramels.
"I want my candy."
"That is not your candy, that is my candy."
"That is my rock. I will give you my rock."
"Yes. You give me your rock, I will give you my candy."
"Perfect!"

We talked about the game a bit, both before and after, and discussed some of the techniques, and the viral, open source nature of the game. One aspect of that which came up in particular, is that I talked about the roadmap using Technique: Language Ladder instead of Technique: Travels with Charlie, and after the game was done, I talked a little about the why's of that, and how the game allowed and encouraged that kind of thing. I also talked about some of the Techniques we didn't use, because we didn't need them (Everybody Plays, Lunatic Fringe) with so few people.

The game will spread from here; two of the participants were already talking about bringing it to other people this weekend, and I'm going to show it to my brothers at a family dinner this Sunday as well; they're both teachers, and I think they'll quickly see the potential of it.

I'm going to try and get something going on a monthly basis, probably using a facebook group for organizing things. This would just be for teaching and spreading the game, and the hope is that people will spin off of this, and hunt down native speakers in their target language, and spread the game even further.

I really need to figure out how the built in camera works in my laptop.

James

Thou shalt...

2009-10-16T13:41:00.002-06:00

I've had a list for a while now, that I've occaisionally talked about, but not written about, which is odd, in retrospect.

So. Here are the four games that I think should be mandatory to play, before anyone is allowed to write, design, organize, or run a game.

- a freeform RPG. No formal rules beyond "I have final say over what happens to my character"
- the social/party game Werewolf. In it's most basic structure; 10ish villagers, 2 werewolves.
- Diplomacy. I'm not responsible for any fallout among the people you play it with.
- a oldskool competative boardgame, like Risk. Caveat: play it hard-nosed, and strictly by the book, without table chatter or distraction.

So, having done all of these things, what's the point? And why these particular things? Because each of those games, or styles of play is fun, in it's own particular way. Those games are also two faced monsters that will deceive you if you haven't played them.
Because from the outside, freeform blends into werewolf blends into Diplomacy blends into Risk. But viewed from within, those styles of play are very different, and further, actively damaging to each other.

Worth saying again. Those styles of play are actively damaging to each other, and I'm absolutely certain that anyone who has played games for any length of time, has seen this, a thousand times over.

But for some incredibly baffling reason, we keep thinking that if we only design "well enough", that we can make all of those people happy.

You can't. Stop trying. Focus on one style of play, design for that style of play, and make it clear up front. Some people will, indeed, try your game, expecting it to be something it isn't, and declare that it sucks.

But the people who like what your game will like it very much indeed.

James

The update of updateyness, now with updates

2009-10-09T14:01:00.003-06:00

Lots of things going on. Like SNOW.

Stupid snow, reminding me that Winter is Coming. We need to winterize the trailer, and clean out the garage so we can park under shelter ASAP. We're also giving the inside of the house the hairy eyeball, and looking at some major reorganization.

In less prosaic affairs, I've got lots of cool ideas for Reality Cops, but they mostly pertain to layout and presentation; the game itself is floating untended at the moment. I desperately need some perspectives that aren't mine, and they aren't coming. :/ I hate chasing after people.

I'm reopening Death's Door as a project; not so much with an eye to republish it, as to use it as a testing ground for rewriting and layout now that I've got that many more years of writing/designing under my belt. It may end up getting republished as a result though, who knows.

And last but not least, Where Are Your Keys is continuing to hold my fascination, such that I've invited a bunch of local people to a workshop to introduce the game, and we'll see what happens from there. I already have some thoughts about techniques and things that I may (will) do differently.

James

WAYK, the Language Fluency Game

2009-09-22T13:46:00.003-06:00

Where Are Your Keys?

Wow. Just . . . Wow.

The sound quality is politely described as "poor" in this video, but you can really see the potential. I was able to pick up some of the basics of ASL just watching, let alone actually participating.

Seriously. Check it out.

I like InDesign CS4

2009-09-19T14:42:00.002-06:00

It's remarkable the features that just come out of nowhere when you upgrade from version 2.1 to version 6.0 . . .

I've created the first rough draft editions of play aids for Reality Cops. You can find them here:

Character Sheet
Real World
Operation worksheet

Enjoy.

James

Can't talk, leveling.

2009-09-08T11:51:00.005-06:00

Champions Online has eaten my soul.

I'd have more to say, about how I'm considering buying the equipment to do POD out of my basement, or about how awesome wundergeek's preview sketches for Reality Cops looked, or about how my long-running battle with Adobe has finally been laid to rest, and I have the InDesign license that I paid for (in January!) finally.

But I can't. Canada is in Crisis, and it's up to Dark Stalker to save it.

James

Ye Olde Poste Gencon Report

2009-08-19T12:11:00.002-06:00

Gencon was its usual mix of joy and pain.

Many excellent games were played, many games were purchased, in the expectation that they will be either fun to play, or get gutted for their raw design material - or ideally, both. Connected with old friends and new alike, and many kinds of shit were shot. The highlights for me are that I had a lunch meeting with the fantastic wundergeek, and she's agreed to take on some artwork for Reality Cops. This makes two artists whose work I really like on the project, which makes me very happy. Also, she made an off-hand comment which seeded an excellent idea for the cover image. Double win! Finally, about a dozen copies of Reality Cops are now in circulation, and I got it into the hands of most everyone I wanted to.

The pain, of course, balances against that. Indianapolis may be a pretty city, but it's hot and humid and it really stinks. Hoards of people everywhere. Great outpourings of cash. Not enough time to talk and game with everone I wanted to, not to mention those missed entirely. Ah well. To borrow a Jewish aphorism: Next year at Gencon.

James

The summer, it is full.

2009-07-08T10:49:00.003-06:00

So, umm... Where did June go? I swear it was here just a second ago.

Summer is pretty full this year. To borrow from my favorite 6 year old philosopher, The Days Are Just Packed.

I just got back from Go Play Northwest, which was a fantastic weekend of gaming.

I've been doing a bunch of writing for Reality Cops - mostly compiling from various scribbles, playtest notes, brainstorming notes, and the dark recesses of my brain, and producing the text which will be the ashcan edition for Gencon.

From July 18-26 (roughly), we're camping at Greenwater, the first weekend in August is Quad War, the weekend after that is batizado, and then we're back at the previously mentioned Gencon on the week/weekend after that. Then two weeks of breather, and school's in again.

Somewhere in there, I need to finish the brick patio under our balcony, and do a bunch of work on the Quadwar cabin, and hey, it would be kinda nice if we were able to take a few days with the new tent trailer (we're cabin-ing at Greenwater, because we didn't know/weren't sure we'd have the trailer when we had to book).

At least I don't need to fit time in to make more bowls for Blood and Bronze... I re-injured my frakking wrist, which means it will be probably a month or more before I can swing a hammer. So, no new sets of Without Peer for Gencon this year. :(

James

The Martin Thompson Story

2009-06-22T12:02:00.004-06:00

An excerpt from Reality Cops. This is a fiction snippet, and about 95% of the setting material that is not generated at the table. Most of the setting for the game is created in a brain-storming session at the beginning of the game, with the rest happening on-the-fly during play.

The Martin Thompson Story

Phase Theory

On March 6th, in the year 2217, Martin Thompson applied a revolutionary combination of mind theory and chemical science, to discover that ours is not the only world. He learned that certain minds, under certain conditions, could be made to shift their perception into other realities. Other worlds. Some of these worlds are much like ours, some are very different. He called these alternate realities phases of existence, and proposed that when a mind transitioned between them, the phases met and touched at that single point, much like soap bubbles floating in air. And like those bubbles, they proved fragile, some more so than others. In early experiments, three volunteers were driven insane when the communal phase they occupied broke under the pressure.

On December 9th 2219, Martin Thompson died, went insane, and disappeared, in approximately that order. This was the first recorded incidence of reality subversion.

Transition Threat

From the very early phases of Thompson’s investigations, it was clear that minds in transition could influence, to varying degrees, the phase they moved to. Investigation of his death and subsequent insanity showed that minds in transition and only minds in transition could also influence this reality. Assimilating known history with Thompson’s model showed clear mathematical indications that, at various points through recorded history, reality had been warped. Sometimes it gradually returned to its “normal” shape, sometimes the change became permanent.

Work in other phases had already shown that a strongly focused mind could cause shifts in the structure of that phase. It was theorized that a sufficiently focused individual could, through the connection between the alternate phase and reality, cause shifts in the structure of reality.

Panic spread. In some places, phase researchers were hunted by mobs, blamed for every little thing. In others, they were lifted up like gods, and viewed as the only ones who could save reality. It is from the seeds of this second set that the awareness of a moral imperative to maintain our reality arose. This awareness, combined with a fluke discovery is what led to the eventual formation of the Phase Research and Reality Maintenance Division, commonly known as Reality Cops.

The Burke Dynamic

In the chaos and panic following widespread awareness of reality subversions, many of the organizations researching phases of existence no longer had the luxury of carefully controlled experiments and volunteers were less carefully screened. In late 2223, this resulted in Carmen Burke entering transition while suffering from acute appendicitis. Carmen's account of how simple it was to affect the phase was initially discounted as simply a misconception, but transition recordings and later, further controlled experimentation bore out the testimony.

A mind that entered transition while experiencing pain was better able to affect the phase it entered.

This was the breakthrough that allowed the Reality Cops to effectively carry out their mandate.

Strictly voluntary, the Division gained in credibility and effectiveness until it was an accepted and necessary part of life for more than a generation.

It had been more than twenty years since the last reality subversion.

The Second Thompson Subversion

July 12, 2262. A deranged man breaks into Division Headquarters and transitions illegally. The man dies moments later, without leaving the phase of existence he had transitioned into. Phase researchers become aware that another reality subversion has occurred. As best can be determined, the subversion had two main effects. First, and most obvious, entering transition no longer required complex equipment. Second, and more complex in its effects, was that the Burke Dynamic no longer drew exclusively from an individual's own pain, but was affected by the pain of those around them.

Post-subversion DNA testing indicates the man was, in fact, Martin Thompson. This is not, however, viewed as conclusive evidence.

The year is 2265. You are a Reality Cop.

Getting the urge

2009-06-16T12:27:00.003-06:00

I think I want to run some ronin up a mountain again.

Yeah... Friday Night Mountain Witch, coming soon to a basement near me.

James

On value.

2009-06-02T15:44:00.002-06:00

Our society places too much emphasis on the value of things.

Have you ever tried to give things to a stranger?

James

My not-so-secret shame

2009-05-20T12:59:00.002-06:00

So, one night last week, while my wife was out, I did it.

I'd been holding off for quite a while; since last year, pretty much, but eventually I couldn't help myself.

I crept furtively under the stairs, and snuck out that brown-wrapped package with the discrete logo in the corner, and took off the wrapping.

The model on the cover was displayed, teasingly, in full colour, brazenly showing here, artfully concealing there...

I spent all that night with it, and when my wife came home, she caught me. There ... was some fallout, and I ended up going to bed late, and alone, but that didn't stop me from going back to it the next night, and the night after.

Yeah baby, I'm lookin' at you. (link totally SFW)

James

Endeavours

2009-05-04T11:56:00.003-06:00

So, deciding to update around here a little more often; we'll have to see how long that lasts... Oh, Facebook, my languishing blog envies you so.

Reality Cops is my current project, and the two-fold goal is this:
1) To have an ashcan at Gencon
2) To have premie/promo ashcans done by Go Play NorthWest, to distribute among that group, and hopefully generate some play and buzz in the lead-up to con season.

I think I'm on track for this. Text is pretty much done, barring an editing pass or three, so I'm starting to shop around for someone to do the ashcan artwork. Layout will start soon, too. Reminder to self: Harrass Adobe for my new version of InDesign that I paid for.

James

My son looks normal.

2009-05-01T09:50:00.003-06:00

... but he's not.

Today is Blog against Disablism Day 2009.

Over the last few years, it's been a challenge.

Oh, sure - there's the thousands of hours of therapy, and the 6 year old that's not toilet trained, and has no concept of personal safety (why yes, we do have bars on our second story windows, why do you ask?), the special diet, and the communication issues and.... well, I could go on.

But today, I want to talk about your pity, and how you can keep it the hell to yourself.

My son is autistic. When we go to the playground, and he's climbing up the slide, yes, I will step in when you try and tell him not to - because you don't know how to talk to him. In case it's not clear, you chose to intervene with someone else's child, and you are the ignorant one here, not my son. He's having fun, and doing what kids do in playgrounds. It's not his fault you don't know PECS or sign. It's not his fault that you don't know to make eye contact before talking to him. So when I explain this to you, don't you dare pity me. I'm educating you.

When we are at the 7-11, and I'm holding my son's hand while he's grinning and bouncing, I'll forgive you whispering to each other and giggling: you're teenagers, and it is kinda funny. But when I squat down in front of him, and guide his hands through sign to ask for a slushie... that look you can bloody well keep to yourself.

When we go to the indoor play park, and my son spends the entire time sitting in the treehouse with his hands over his ears, don't you dare look at me like he's broken. Look at his face. Look at it. He's grinning like a maniac and staring at everything. He's having a blast.

James

Funky.

2009-01-29T09:11:00.001-07:00

Check this out:

superuse.org.

Very cool.

Change.

2009-01-20T11:50:00.002-07:00

I have been tearing up randomly today.

Ok, not randomly. It's happening whenever I think about what's happening south of the border today.

Please God, help him to be the leader they, and we, need.

James

I really should know better...

2009-01-08T14:54:00.001-07:00

I read Twilight.

yeah.... don't let me do that again.

I am blogging from my new laptop.

2008-12-20T14:54:00.002-07:00

That is all. More to follow when I stop squeeing.

James

Spot the missing info...

2008-12-08T14:19:00.002-07:00

So, another writing exercise from knife fight, this time.

Real Characters

Pick ten people you see throughout the day or week and write a one-sentence description for each of them. Spin off a fictional character based on what they suggest to you. Tell us something of who they are, not just what they look like.

(exercise from PoeWar, http://www.poewar.com/fifteen-craft-exercises-for-writers/)

------
The intern leaned forward, playfully flirtatious, still getting the job done.

Clothes, attitude, everything was casual, until you saw the eyes.

Alone, chain-smoking, facing but never watching the endless T.V.

Hurrying out of a meeting, cell phone attached, arguing with the ex.

Calm and collected, skilled and confident - every inch the role model.

A ready smile and a joke to hand, good humour turned bitter when the company downsized.

One look, and you knew all those people who had mastered self-deception were amateurs by comparison.

Violence roiling under the surface, kept in check with daily hard labour.

Regimented, sterile, some people just look like they were born in a lab coat.

Eyes, crinkled and laughing, make an ordinary face beautiful.
---------

So, exercise for the reader: what haven't I told you?

James

"ZOMG, Teh markets r asplode"

2008-12-02T16:00:00.002-07:00

Title citation.

So, there's a global financial meltdown and all kinds of jazz. The banks can't extend credit, and huge stuff-generating industries, like the Big Three are suddenly teetering on the brink, as people cut big purchases, and the house of cards collapses.

There are places, I'm quite certain, where this would get me lynched, but: I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing. In the short term? Yes, horrible. I am deeply suspicious of the various government and corporate bailout plans and responses to the global financial crisis: My cynicism suspects they are not intended to mitigate the disaster at all, just to allow the priviledged few* to cut their losses before things really go south.

I think we're going to see another huge depression. And that's the "yes, horrible" from above - industries will collapse or violently restructure, and a lot of folks will get dumped ass-first below the poverty line. But I also think our lifestyle in north america is not sustainable without ongoing cultural and economic and literal violence committed against the rest of the world. And the rest of the world is getting fed up with our bullshit.

James

* For those keeping score at home, I'm in those ranks.

If I get rid of two, it's OK to buy one, right?

2008-11-26T15:09:00.005-07:00

So, it's been a long time since I've bought a new computer. Like, a long, long time. My last new computer was a laptop with a 300Ghz Pentium II processor, and that was damn sexy at the time. The computer I have right now is a third? fourth? gen hand-me-down that started it's life as someone else's hot-shit gaming box. I'm not honestly sure what the specs on it are, I'd have to look. And, well, I can't.

Because, you see, it's dying. It's been dying for a long time, but doing it slowly enough that I haven't quite been motivated to replace it. But certain things (like video, or java, or the properties dialogue, or the calendar, or starting Outlook) will lock up the box. And every time I need to reboot it, it takes longer, and more tries before it actually boots all the way. Every once in a while, I speculate that I'm the subject of a psychology experiment.

And we have a computer upstairs, that is a one-generation-younger gaming box than mine, which Raven originally got so she could play The Sims. (Yes, that means the newer of my computers is 8-ish years old. Why?) It's only real purpose these days is to run InDesign for publishing and printing BSP stuff.

But neither of those reasons are sufficient to themselves to overcome my laziness, or it would have happened at least a couple years ago.

However, I recently inherited (and, for a change, I mean that literally) a ancient record player and boxes of 78's from the 40's and 50's, and I've been wracking my head trying to figure out where the heck I can put it. And it occured to me, that if I got rid of the computer desk downstairs, it could easily go there.

But I can't just consolidate into the upstairs computer, because it sits on the same desk as Raven's computer, which means I'd be competing for screen time with both her and Kalen, and that's a fight I'm destined to lose.

So, laptop time. If I pick up a nice, high-end beastie with wireless, a big screen and lots of drive space, it can replace both of my aging, power-sucking desktops, and I'm not tied to any one place in the house any more. I can blog by the fire, or publish at the table, or write in the comfy chair. Or hey, I could even read my forums in the hobby room, listening to 78s on my vintage record player.

I like the sound of that. I think I'll buy me a shiny new laptop. After all, it's been 11 years since the last time I did that.

James

Snippets of fiction

2008-11-20T14:05:00.002-07:00

Emily Care Boss, over on knife fight*, is hosting/organizing a series of writing exercises, about one a week or so. This week's was called "chastity", and we were restricted to write a short (200-250 word) piece of descriptive prose without adverbs, adjectives, with no dialogue. Wow, hard. I'm not sure I succeeded (I can spot some adjectives, and I may have gone overboard on the prepositions), but here is the resulting snippet of fiction from me. Let me know what you think.

---------
He stared out the window, and knew it would be soon. The sun sank behind the buildings, and the street grew dim. The smoke from her cigarette irritated his eyes, so he glared until she stubbed it out and walked away. Nothing was said; it didn’t have to be. But that was her way ever since they killed her man.

The street was empty now, even the horses had been brought in. They’d been left before, but that stopped after… He shook his head. No good thinking like that.

Cleaning the barrel, he checked the sky and sighed. No moon tonight, and the gas was gone. Last night they rolled barrels into the street, filled them with trash and gasoline, and it helped. Things would be harder tonight; you can’t shoot what you can’t see.

Noise from below told him that the others were back. He hoped they’d brought everything. Last week Jory forgot gauze, and it could have cost lives. They got lucky, but still. He sighed again. No sense getting mad at Jory – he was in the graveyard now. She came back, set down her load and snapped a cigarette from the pack living in her rolled up sleeve. Glancing at him, she swore, and put it back.

People settled at windows and behind sandbags. Hammering came from downstairs as they barricaded the door. Tension filled the air, and he wondered if he’d see the sunrise.
He eased his gun between the boards of the window and waited. They came.

---------

James

*It's a closed-member forum, so you probably won't be able to see what I'm talking about. It's just a signpost.

Redolent is a lovely word

2008-11-16T18:45:00.003-07:00

Pungent smells, sharp smells, the air heavy with spices... Smells once foreign to the western nose, strange and exotic like cinnamon and tumeric, mixed with smells so familiar and ancient that they're tied to deep traditions in our culture: clove, mustard.

These are the kinds of smells that the word redolent was created to describe, and our house is redolent with layered spices.

I really, really wish that it was because of baking or cooking, and not because Connor got into the spices while I was elsewhere.

Because then there would be the implication of tasty food, instead of the reality of a (possibly indelible) bright yellow stain on the linoleum and counter.

James