gggggggg rrgrgrrrgrrg..... paint soooo tasty, like suckling straight from the teats of a paint cow. Oh the colors.....
Salutations Art! We have not been formally introduced. I'm Denis. Jon won me at a raffle and hasn't had the heart to put me out yet. So they let me into the Action Team as the team gimp.
As to your question, Jon's right in trying the forum at RPG.net for more informed opinions. That said, if I may put in my 2 coppers. I think the open license d20 system has the broadest reach. The number of products published for the system is larger than any other. I don't know much on the legal side, but it seems it might be easier to put out a product with that system than trying to get a publisher to use outside source material. The actual game mechanics outside standard fantasy D&D I don't know much about. Though 3rd ed. did move more toward a skill based system, I'm not sure if it's enough for your needs. If you have a chance, take a look at the "D20 Modern" series. I'm not sure if that is open license, but you could get some ideas. Not so much class reliant, just basic archetypes and I think more skill based. Plus I think it has gnoll pimps! That alone is worth the price of admission. Oh yeah maybe d20 Star Wars for more sci fi stuff.
One more announcement. You BASTARDS!!!!!!! I'm all twitchy from the crack. The crack that is World of Warcraft. Female Night Elf Hunter - Kasiopaeia (Draenor server). booooooooo!
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Friday, December 10, 2004
Adventures in job-searching, from a Christian movie casting post: We pray before every shoot and believe God will anoint the actors with performances that will stun theatrical audiences. “Gravity” is a family motion picture that will be enjoyed by theatrical audiences worldwide even if they have no Judeo Christian experience. Fuck yeah, prepare for anointment, bitches!
Art, to answer your easiest quest, Gurps is a skill-based point-buy system. I'm not all that knowledgeable of it myself, despite buying 3 billion books at the Gamekeeper fire sale, but essentially for most rolls you roll 3d6, trying to roll under either your stat, or your skill.
For your OGL/business questions I would head over to www.rpg.net, register for an account (free), and post your questions in their Business forum since I think for the most part The Action Team knows fuck-all about the business end of RPG publishing. (Although Eric has researched the brick-and-mortar end quite a bit.)
As far as skill-based systems go, GURPS is the classic, and they just released their new edition so for the next year or so new releases in that line will still seem shiny and exciting. I have no idea how their licensing arrangements work, though; all of their books are published by SJ Games, and most of their books are either general-use (Romans, Dragons, etc.) or are tied to already-existing fiction licenses. I haven't seen a lot of new, original settings coming out of there.
I personally am a fan of Savage Worlds as well, which is also a skill-based system and from my brief research offers pretty good publishing deals. Of course they have a much smaller slice of the RPG pie than GURPS has (which itself has a much smaller slice than D&D/d20). However, they do pretty well for themselves, and they have a small but active fanbase.
SW has a pretty specific philosophy, which is that their system is geared for fast, finite campaigns, which a good amount of tactical crunch but simple and fast combat and record-keeping. If you are planning for a d20 level of complexity then they're not what you're looking for.
Art, to answer your easiest quest, Gurps is a skill-based point-buy system. I'm not all that knowledgeable of it myself, despite buying 3 billion books at the Gamekeeper fire sale, but essentially for most rolls you roll 3d6, trying to roll under either your stat, or your skill.
For your OGL/business questions I would head over to www.rpg.net, register for an account (free), and post your questions in their Business forum since I think for the most part The Action Team knows fuck-all about the business end of RPG publishing. (Although Eric has researched the brick-and-mortar end quite a bit.)
As far as skill-based systems go, GURPS is the classic, and they just released their new edition so for the next year or so new releases in that line will still seem shiny and exciting. I have no idea how their licensing arrangements work, though; all of their books are published by SJ Games, and most of their books are either general-use (Romans, Dragons, etc.) or are tied to already-existing fiction licenses. I haven't seen a lot of new, original settings coming out of there.
I personally am a fan of Savage Worlds as well, which is also a skill-based system and from my brief research offers pretty good publishing deals. Of course they have a much smaller slice of the RPG pie than GURPS has (which itself has a much smaller slice than D&D/d20). However, they do pretty well for themselves, and they have a small but active fanbase.
SW has a pretty specific philosophy, which is that their system is geared for fast, finite campaigns, which a good amount of tactical crunch but simple and fast combat and record-keeping. If you are planning for a d20 level of complexity then they're not what you're looking for.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Need your opinions..
So the project I'm working on is simultaneously looking to release a RPG version of the concept at the same time as the first person shooter game.. or maybe a little before the computer edition. Anyone know much about the Open Gamers License system and/or d20 "open-source" licensing? I'm wondering if you guys have used any self-made systems in your many travels through gaming-land and have an opinion on them OR.. if you have a potential alternative in mind for creating a custom RPG world.
Essentially, they want to use more of a skills-based system (along the lines of Warhammer) instead of "levels", and the setting is going to be futuristic in nature with plenty of gunplay and whatnot. I was thinking of suggesting GURPS, but I don't honestly remember what the underlying game mechanics are like. Does it use percentage-rolls, and would it support a skill-based advancement of characters?
Ideas?
So the project I'm working on is simultaneously looking to release a RPG version of the concept at the same time as the first person shooter game.. or maybe a little before the computer edition. Anyone know much about the Open Gamers License system and/or d20 "open-source" licensing? I'm wondering if you guys have used any self-made systems in your many travels through gaming-land and have an opinion on them OR.. if you have a potential alternative in mind for creating a custom RPG world.
Essentially, they want to use more of a skills-based system (along the lines of Warhammer) instead of "levels", and the setting is going to be futuristic in nature with plenty of gunplay and whatnot. I was thinking of suggesting GURPS, but I don't honestly remember what the underlying game mechanics are like. Does it use percentage-rolls, and would it support a skill-based advancement of characters?
Ideas?
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
PastramiCon and Beyond
O rugs: I dont think you understand the situation fully. You have been nominated to rent AND fly us to GenCon AT YOUR EXPENSE. Just one of those kind things we do to use, accomodate! Yeah... To accomodate the virgin GenCon goers.
Seriously though, GenCon Indy was brought up this past weekend and there seemed to be a good deal of interest. Of course that would be heavily dependent on financial situations for those involved. Particularly Jon and I. We really aught to make a determination on that one by the end of february. Jon and I need to land jobs between now and then.
Dennis, well we always knew their was an evil side to him. No gamer is without one. Dennis you would make a ruthless, perhaps even insane general.
D>M>
O rugs: I dont think you understand the situation fully. You have been nominated to rent AND fly us to GenCon AT YOUR EXPENSE. Just one of those kind things we do to use, accomodate! Yeah... To accomodate the virgin GenCon goers.
Seriously though, GenCon Indy was brought up this past weekend and there seemed to be a good deal of interest. Of course that would be heavily dependent on financial situations for those involved. Particularly Jon and I. We really aught to make a determination on that one by the end of february. Jon and I need to land jobs between now and then.
Dennis, well we always knew their was an evil side to him. No gamer is without one. Dennis you would make a ruthless, perhaps even insane general.
D>M>
Denis
You would never expect such behavior from relaxed, vegetarian, demure, well groomed, unassuming, meticulous at painting, Denis, but truer words have never been blogged before:
"Also, don't fuck with Denis because he will fucking go crazy on your ass."
Ruthless. Just ruthless. In fact, I don't think I can hang with that guy anymore, I saw a side of him that just disturbed me, so Denis, please don't call me anymore. Unless it's to play Blood Bowl....
Again, congrats on the painting contest!
You would never expect such behavior from relaxed, vegetarian, demure, well groomed, unassuming, meticulous at painting, Denis, but truer words have never been blogged before:
"Also, don't fuck with Denis because he will fucking go crazy on your ass."
Ruthless. Just ruthless. In fact, I don't think I can hang with that guy anymore, I saw a side of him that just disturbed me, so Denis, please don't call me anymore. Unless it's to play Blood Bowl....
Again, congrats on the painting contest!
Aaaaaaron with the random object up the nose manuever!
That totally sounds like a great time was had by all, even if Aaron was shoving things in bodily orifices yet again.. hehe.. I'd be totally down with flying peeps out to Indy but that's a looong way to go! In all honesty, it'd be a lot cheaper and a lot faster to go commercially unless a "road" trip sounded like a lot of fun. With three passengers, we'd be lucky to pull 150kts the whole way.. so that'd probably take a couple days each way in the smaller aircraft I'm rated for. =/
The idea sounds fun though. =)
On the software development thing, it's all just really in the beginning stages, but I do know they're looking for some 2D/3D modellers. Any of youse guys good with that and interested in some freelance work? When they've been hiring out piecemeal for some of the artwork and concept designs but I think they want to get a steady relationship established with some peeps.
I'm going to be working on the project at night and on weekends for a while until it looks like things are getting more involved. We shall see!
Best,
~T.
That totally sounds like a great time was had by all, even if Aaron was shoving things in bodily orifices yet again.. hehe.. I'd be totally down with flying peeps out to Indy but that's a looong way to go! In all honesty, it'd be a lot cheaper and a lot faster to go commercially unless a "road" trip sounded like a lot of fun. With three passengers, we'd be lucky to pull 150kts the whole way.. so that'd probably take a couple days each way in the smaller aircraft I'm rated for. =/
The idea sounds fun though. =)
On the software development thing, it's all just really in the beginning stages, but I do know they're looking for some 2D/3D modellers. Any of youse guys good with that and interested in some freelance work? When they've been hiring out piecemeal for some of the artwork and concept designs but I think they want to get a steady relationship established with some peeps.
I'm going to be working on the project at night and on weekends for a while until it looks like things are getting more involved. We shall see!
Best,
~T.
Jon's Con Report
This was a good con! We all won tons of swag. WoTC had a very large booth with tons of demo games. (D&D Minis, MLB Showdown, etc..) You could go to the prize booth and get a "character sheet," and then do demos. For every demo you did your sheet got a stamp... when you were ready you could go back to the prize booth and roll a large, foam 20-sided die. The goal was to "hit" monsters at increasing DCs. The first one got you some Magic cards n' shit, the second one got you some D&D/Star Wars miniatures, the third roll got you a D&D rulebook or boardgame, and the fourth roll got you a bunch more of the above. Well, all of us got the first two rolls, and everyone except Eric, I think, got the third. So we all got some form of board game or rulebook plus a bunch of other shit.
So yeah, I won Risk: Godstorm, Rudy won the future version, Aaron won Betrayal at House on the Hill (a very fun, sorta cheesy, "horror" board game... very good win). A good few additions to the boardgame pool.
And yeah, I bought Twilight Imperium 3rd ed on the first day. I decided to get my obscene purchasing over with. We tried to play it on Saturday night, only to discover that due to a printing error we were missing an important piece. Fortunately I was able to go to the booth on Sunday and get a replacement.
(BTW, I've had TI from way back! I still have the 1st edition with the crappy chits, somewhere. I think it's a great game. They made a -lot- of changes to the rules for this edition so that it's a little quicker [<5 hours] and so that everyone is involved more often. You go 'round robin activating actions and systems, rather than one person taking his entire turn at a time.)
So we played Godstorm instead. It was extremely late by this time and we were all beat, and I overturned the board halfway through, but it was a good time. Johnny, you'll definitely like it. Oh, don't be red because Aaron stuck two pieces up his nose, in retaliation for which I yelled "take it take it take it take it" whenever he made a move. Also, don't fuck with Denis because he will fucking go crazy on your ass.
Aaron, Denis and I stuck around on the last day to see the results of the miniature painting contest Denis entered. It's a good thing we did because he won! His mini kicked ass over the rest of the competition and he won a shitload of paints. The best part of -that- was when they were taking a picture of him and Aaron was yelling "Denis, smile! Smile!"
We finished it off with a fine meal at El Gringo. Ah, nourishment.
(By the way: did anyone win an MLB Showdown starter? That game was actually pretty fun. I'd play it again, despite knowing nothing about baseball....)
This was a good con! We all won tons of swag. WoTC had a very large booth with tons of demo games. (D&D Minis, MLB Showdown, etc..) You could go to the prize booth and get a "character sheet," and then do demos. For every demo you did your sheet got a stamp... when you were ready you could go back to the prize booth and roll a large, foam 20-sided die. The goal was to "hit" monsters at increasing DCs. The first one got you some Magic cards n' shit, the second one got you some D&D/Star Wars miniatures, the third roll got you a D&D rulebook or boardgame, and the fourth roll got you a bunch more of the above. Well, all of us got the first two rolls, and everyone except Eric, I think, got the third. So we all got some form of board game or rulebook plus a bunch of other shit.
So yeah, I won Risk: Godstorm, Rudy won the future version, Aaron won Betrayal at House on the Hill (a very fun, sorta cheesy, "horror" board game... very good win). A good few additions to the boardgame pool.
And yeah, I bought Twilight Imperium 3rd ed on the first day. I decided to get my obscene purchasing over with. We tried to play it on Saturday night, only to discover that due to a printing error we were missing an important piece. Fortunately I was able to go to the booth on Sunday and get a replacement.
(BTW, I've had TI from way back! I still have the 1st edition with the crappy chits, somewhere. I think it's a great game. They made a -lot- of changes to the rules for this edition so that it's a little quicker [<5 hours] and so that everyone is involved more often. You go 'round robin activating actions and systems, rather than one person taking his entire turn at a time.)
So we played Godstorm instead. It was extremely late by this time and we were all beat, and I overturned the board halfway through, but it was a good time. Johnny, you'll definitely like it. Oh, don't be red because Aaron stuck two pieces up his nose, in retaliation for which I yelled "take it take it take it take it" whenever he made a move. Also, don't fuck with Denis because he will fucking go crazy on your ass.
Aaron, Denis and I stuck around on the last day to see the results of the miniature painting contest Denis entered. It's a good thing we did because he won! His mini kicked ass over the rest of the competition and he won a shitload of paints. The best part of -that- was when they were taking a picture of him and Aaron was yelling "Denis, smile! Smile!"
We finished it off with a fine meal at El Gringo. Ah, nourishment.
(By the way: did anyone win an MLB Showdown starter? That game was actually pretty fun. I'd play it again, despite knowing nothing about baseball....)
Sounds like the Con was ON!
Sorry I missed it.. but in all reality, it was probably for the best with the whole office-fire thing we've been dealing with for the last two weeks and on top of that, our office-support person has been out for over a week now because her husband had to go in for an emergency surgical operation. Bleh.
As for gaming goodness, I just don't have the required time to put in to make a MMORPG like WoW do-able.. =(
Here's one small vote for continued attempts to make NWN workable for everyone on Sunday evenings. This upcoming weekend is not going to work for me, that much I know already. However, once the holidays simmer down a little bit, I think we'll be cool to get going with this full-swing in a few weeks if anyone is still interested that is.
As a bit of good/interesting news, I've been offered a share of a start up software development company if I run the business end of things for them. I dunno where it's going or if it will even work, but why not.. if it doesn't go anywhere, my end of things is relatively small. If it does go places, then my responsibilities start growing exponentially, but so does our income. The basic premise is to design and develop a complete new game based on the half-life2 engine. The computer fellas have been banging away on the artwork, models and storyline/gameplay for a while now in expectation of the release of HL2 and are now starting to code. More or less, it's about a civil war between Mars and Earth.. the story line sounds pretty cool thus far. Let's hope it goes nuts, we all make millions and retire at 35. Hehe.. hey, we can dream, right?
=)
Late,
~O.
Sorry I missed it.. but in all reality, it was probably for the best with the whole office-fire thing we've been dealing with for the last two weeks and on top of that, our office-support person has been out for over a week now because her husband had to go in for an emergency surgical operation. Bleh.
As for gaming goodness, I just don't have the required time to put in to make a MMORPG like WoW do-able.. =(
Here's one small vote for continued attempts to make NWN workable for everyone on Sunday evenings. This upcoming weekend is not going to work for me, that much I know already. However, once the holidays simmer down a little bit, I think we'll be cool to get going with this full-swing in a few weeks if anyone is still interested that is.
As a bit of good/interesting news, I've been offered a share of a start up software development company if I run the business end of things for them. I dunno where it's going or if it will even work, but why not.. if it doesn't go anywhere, my end of things is relatively small. If it does go places, then my responsibilities start growing exponentially, but so does our income. The basic premise is to design and develop a complete new game based on the half-life2 engine. The computer fellas have been banging away on the artwork, models and storyline/gameplay for a while now in expectation of the release of HL2 and are now starting to code. More or less, it's about a civil war between Mars and Earth.. the story line sounds pretty cool thus far. Let's hope it goes nuts, we all make millions and retire at 35. Hehe.. hey, we can dream, right?
=)
Late,
~O.
I'm back from time to wreak havoc once again!
- First off, Godsstorm?? risk 2210?? Duelmasters card game? 400 dollars of free games? Please elaborate... I want to play godstorm! Give me an in depth description of the game play! Also what's this about Jon buying twilight imperium, a strategic combat only game? It sounds like the con set some new precedencts into uncharted territory and a whoppin jolly good time. Sorry I missed it!
- SFO EVENTS -- Let's do another BBQ/ Gamesday/ one of these days before Xmas break. What's everones work plans and schedule?
- MP GAMING - Is anyone still playing NWN or is that over and done with? I take it, the new fad is WoW?
- First off, Godsstorm?? risk 2210?? Duelmasters card game? 400 dollars of free games? Please elaborate... I want to play godstorm! Give me an in depth description of the game play! Also what's this about Jon buying twilight imperium, a strategic combat only game? It sounds like the con set some new precedencts into uncharted territory and a whoppin jolly good time. Sorry I missed it!
- SFO EVENTS -- Let's do another BBQ/ Gamesday/ one of these days before Xmas break. What's everones work plans and schedule?
- MP GAMING - Is anyone still playing NWN or is that over and done with? I take it, the new fad is WoW?
Monday, December 06, 2004
WoW
Certainly has some server issues, no? I know Rudy was on when I was and the servers went down AGAIN. Boo. Whatever, I guess there will be growing pains as the game gets more popular and more people keep flooding in... and it really is all Jon's fault for picking an eastern server.
GenCon was a success, with some highlights including:
- Take it take it take it take it...
- The retail value of all the crap we won for free at the Wizards booth probably totalled over $400, including such fine goodies as: Betrayal at House on the Hill, Risk 2210 and Godstorm, Star Wars Miniatures starters and boosters, D&D Miniatures starters and boosters, D&D basic set, Eberron campaign setting book, GI Joe, Duelmasters, and Star Wars card game starters...
- Beer on the convention floor
- Jon's purchase of the $80 3rd edition Twilight Emperium, and subsequent failure to play it due to factory defects.
- Being in the absolute farthest room possible from the con, and finding the silver lining by stealing new rollaway beds nightly.
Good times. Also, Ryan is the first new member of the as of yet unnamed band that we are starting to play next years GenCon. So far, we already have a song written called "Desperate Hour" originally performed by One Beer Mary. All we need is a band a few more songs....
Certainly has some server issues, no? I know Rudy was on when I was and the servers went down AGAIN. Boo. Whatever, I guess there will be growing pains as the game gets more popular and more people keep flooding in... and it really is all Jon's fault for picking an eastern server.
GenCon was a success, with some highlights including:
- Take it take it take it take it...
- The retail value of all the crap we won for free at the Wizards booth probably totalled over $400, including such fine goodies as: Betrayal at House on the Hill, Risk 2210 and Godstorm, Star Wars Miniatures starters and boosters, D&D Miniatures starters and boosters, D&D basic set, Eberron campaign setting book, GI Joe, Duelmasters, and Star Wars card game starters...
- Beer on the convention floor
- Jon's purchase of the $80 3rd edition Twilight Emperium, and subsequent failure to play it due to factory defects.
- Being in the absolute farthest room possible from the con, and finding the silver lining by stealing new rollaway beds nightly.
Good times. Also, Ryan is the first new member of the as of yet unnamed band that we are starting to play next years GenCon. So far, we already have a song written called "Desperate Hour" originally performed by One Beer Mary. All we need is a band a few more songs....
Well..
Jon, it is sort of an involved answer. What the codes 30330 and 25440 mean is the latency settings of your RAM. In breaking down the "30330" code, the "30" means 3.0 CAS latency, the following "3" is 3 TRCD latency, the next "3" denotes a TRD latency of 3, and the final number of "0" is the SPD spec version. Likewise the 25440 means 2.5 CAS, 4 TRCD and 4 TRD. Latency is the number of clock cycles before a certain action can be performed within memory. Long story short the new RAM is both faster and slower. But only nominally. What you really need to be wary of is that the Mac runs stable on both sticks. It should set the memory timings so that both sticks operate within specs. If your system is unstable, then it may not be setting them properly (Not entirely unheard of with older Macs). If it is stable, the performance loss will be negligable, something on the order of .5% - 1%, depending on the type of application. Just watch you stability. CAS latency is the most important of the three for performance deltas.
Twas a great time at the Con. Sorry that Art, Johnny, and Motorbyke couldn't make it. Kublacon! Everyone mark the Memorial day weekend of 2005 on your respective calenders.
D>M>
Jon, it is sort of an involved answer. What the codes 30330 and 25440 mean is the latency settings of your RAM. In breaking down the "30330" code, the "30" means 3.0 CAS latency, the following "3" is 3 TRCD latency, the next "3" denotes a TRD latency of 3, and the final number of "0" is the SPD spec version. Likewise the 25440 means 2.5 CAS, 4 TRCD and 4 TRD. Latency is the number of clock cycles before a certain action can be performed within memory. Long story short the new RAM is both faster and slower. But only nominally. What you really need to be wary of is that the Mac runs stable on both sticks. It should set the memory timings so that both sticks operate within specs. If your system is unstable, then it may not be setting them properly (Not entirely unheard of with older Macs). If it is stable, the performance loss will be negligable, something on the order of .5% - 1%, depending on the type of application. Just watch you stability. CAS latency is the most important of the three for performance deltas.
Twas a great time at the Con. Sorry that Art, Johnny, and Motorbyke couldn't make it. Kublacon! Everyone mark the Memorial day weekend of 2005 on your respective calenders.
D>M>
Great con, guys! Rudy, I'm glad you could make it. Did I show you my new "Circa Footwear" sweatshirt? I'll show it to you next time I see you....
Question for you techie guys: I just bought some new RAM and put it in my computer's empty slot. It's a different manufacturer than the other. When I put it in the speed of the original reads: "PC3200U-30330." The speed of the new one reads: "PC32000U-25440." Does that mean the new RAM is slower than the old? Should I return the new memory?
Hey Rude--what is your character? I'm Borst, on the Dalanar server.
Question for you techie guys: I just bought some new RAM and put it in my computer's empty slot. It's a different manufacturer than the other. When I put it in the speed of the original reads: "PC3200U-30330." The speed of the new one reads: "PC32000U-25440." Does that mean the new RAM is slower than the old? Should I return the new memory?
Hey Rude--what is your character? I'm Borst, on the Dalanar server.
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