Previously, in Trip's Life...
31 December 2002 - Tuesday
AIEEEE! I finally got my spiffy flat monitor working right and now it
doesn't work any more! :( Specifically, it stops displaying
anything about 1d10 seconds after being powered on. Power-cycling it
gets another 1d10 seconds of functionality.
Morosely, I go shopping. :(
* * *
Party time!
Yes, I am actually going to Harold's NYE/NY party! Yes, this is
probably a result of temporary insanity.
* * *
I have survived Harold's party! I am hardly dead at all, in fact!
Outfits of note: Marith's transparent black lace top under a bright
red suit, Christy's pale green Chinese dress (with special gam-flaunting
slits), Jim's Space Gigolo costume, and Gretchen's SHORT HAIR and
glitter and velvet labyrinth dress.
Well, okay, maybe it was the alien robot that's replaced Gretchen. We
sure didn't recognize her when we first saw her!
I managed to deliver those presents which UPS had condescended to
deliver to me, and they were well received. Also, my L'il Cthulhu shirt
(from Angie!) was much admired. Ayse gave me more parasite-yummies, and
Harold had some prepared, and there was also fungus with dip, so all was
well on the gustatory front!
While listening to Gretchen try to lure Ayse and Ken onto the D&D3e
MUD she plays, I experimented with drinking, but one glass of champagne,
a couple half-glasses of amaretto liqueur, and half a glass of port
didn't do much except maybe heat my face briefly, and that was all I
could stand to drink. No drunken debauchery for me, I guess! (And no
sober debauchery either, but that's a different issue.)
Ayse suggested that my monitor might be stuck in power-save mode;
apparently her flatscreen at work did that once. She doesn't know what
the fix is, since she just called IT,. but she suggested completely
disconnecting the monitor from everything, and if that didn't work,
she'd ask her IT people what they did. Yay!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
happy new year! by kit (Thu Jan 2 13:06:54 2003)
Happy New Year! hugses! :)
Make a comment!
30 December 2002 - Monday
I have apparently sacrificed the requisite number of hours to the
gods of the BIOS, because now I have a nice clean desktop with no freaky
glitches. Only 1152x768x8bit, but it's usuable, and I can get a better
video card later.
Big thanks to Marith and vonnie@idiom for getting me the numbers I
needed to get back on the net!
* * *
My apartment is FULL of computer debris. Blargh. All the docs say
"Keep the original packaging! You must keep the original packaging or
you will DIE!" but I think I'm not going to.
Okay, the TEN THOUSAND Amazon boxes aren't helping either. Double
blargh.
* * *
Bigger thanks to Marith, who gave me a printer that works!
Muahahahahahaha! Now I can print out my TT notes!
* * *
For all the good it did me. A couple of random encounters, I managed
to get rid of the dwarves so I don't have to run them, and the PCs got
to level up, which killed all our momentum and then Marith showed up to
show off her presents and there was talking and talking and eventually
going home.
I need to figure out some way to get them more involved in the plot.
Possibly this involves developing a more concrete notion of what the
plot is.
But Tamago made me extra-yummy chocolate-oatmeal parasite yummies! So
all is well!
Make a comment!
29 December 2002 - Sunday
I flolloped around until Marith came over to receive her present and
take me to Fry's to buy a new computer. It's a cheesy PC, but it should
run Linux, and I got a 17" LCD monitor because it's flat!
* * *
Yum, sushi!
* * *
Marith has shown us the Top 10 Silliest Songs Countdown from
Veggie Tales. I am awed by the silliness.
* * *
Red Hat 8.0 Install is pretty straightforward. Cool.
If only I could get the mzrfratzratzn monitor to work right. But I
can't, so I'm going to bed.
Make a comment!
28 December 2002 - Saturday
Second day of Ayse's move! There was a lot of moving. All day. Oof.
My tentacles are very sore, and I still have no computer, but the move
is done.
Make a comment!
27 December 2002 - Friday
Ack! Exploding computer! Not a surprise, since I essentially got it
out of a dumpster and have been using an externally mounted box fan for
cooling since the CPU fan died, but still a great inconvenience! I
suspect my ability to prepare for TT on Monday will be greatly
lessened.
Make a comment!
26 December 2002 - Thursday
The other problem with the to-be-read bookcase being right there is
that it becomes very easy to stay up until after 03:00 reading!
Eventually I did make it to Lee's to get my comics, and then came
back and fidgeted at TT all afternoon. I am now closer to being
prepared, even if that's not saying much.
* * *
Tonight's fortunes:
- "Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause."
- "You display the wonderful traits of charm and courtesy."
* * *
421 words tonight. None of it on Transmundane. but I need more
Ideas.
late nights by Angie (Thu Dec 26 23:39:41 2002)
I keep having a similar problem, except I'm crocheting for far too long, instead of reading. But I'm very nearly done with another (my fourth ever!) blanket, so that's a good thing. I doubt I'll get very far on the third I brought home, though, since I've been neglecting my frolic-outside duties for the last couple of days, in favor of presents and yarn. But I want to get back to reading, because there is much Tolkien waiting for me!
Make a comment!
25 December 2002 - Wednesday
Merry Kitmas! Or Chrisbermas! Or something else equally
blasphemous!
I flopped around all day until Marith and Harold and I went to see
The Two Towers. It has been so many years since I read the
books (twenty? augh I'm OLD!) that I didn't notice many of the
alterations (and some of the ones I did notice I was wrong about), but
Marith went on at great length about them, so I guess there were a
bunch. From my philistine perspective, though, I thought it worked
reasonably well. We could have done with about 100% less dwarf humor,
and Gollum/Smeagol could probably have been made more creepy, more
pathetic, and less humorous, but the Dead Marsh was suitably scary, and
the Ents rocked.
So go see it, but if you're a Tolkien purist, take along your blood
pressure meds.
Sadly, the other part of the Christmas tradition failed because no
restaurants at all were open, not even Chinese ones. So I eat my
microwaved butternut squash and pulsate grouchily. Hmph!
* * *
654 words, which meets my Revised Vacation Quota of 400 per day! None
of them Transmundane, but that will come in time.
Make a comment!
24 December 2002 - Tuesday
The problem with having the to-be-read bookcase next to my bed is that
when I get up, there's not a lot of reason to leave the bedroom. I guess
it's better than actually sleeping until noon, but still not
good.
* * *
726 words of Transmundane, and I'll call that chapter 12!
Provisionally, anyway. I think the long hiatus of lameness has rusted my
grasp of the style I was using. What do people think? More description of
actions? No? Purple?
Ummm...hi. by Kailin (Wed Dec 25 16:14:26 2002)
Would you like an outsider's opinion? grin You did ask for thoughts, and even tho I don't think I'm the people you had in mind, I couldn't resist offering mine. If you want 'em, I have a few to spare. ;) But I have to warn you, I pick nits... If you're not looking at an eventual attempt to publish, then my thoughts prolly won't be of much use to you. *wry grin*
I can't wait to read the next installment. I'm glad you're working on it again! :)
Re: Ummm...hi. by Trip (Wed Dec 25 20:27:39 2002)
I didn't specify any particular set of people I wanted opinions from, so sure!
I think it is unlikely that Transmundane will ever be published, but it would be nice if other things I write are, someday, so any nits you pick now might help later.
It's nice to know that people will say good things about Transmundane without having to be bribed. :)
By the way, who are you?
Transmundane by Kailin (Thu Dec 26 20:07:31 2002)
I'm just a random weirdo wandering thru cyberspace. I get lost now and again, which I think is how I found The Transmundane in the first place. grin
My very first nit is from Ch. 11; I think it's in the first paragraph. "Annoyedly" isn't a word... Neither is "frustratedly", which you used later in the chapter. But that's just a nit. :)
You mentioned something about your style being rusty, but I don't see that happening at all--your style is great! You have a very distinctive voice in your writing.
However, your focus jumps around like crazy.
How many questions is the reader asking as s/he is reading your story? How many of the questions have been answered? Which questions are the important questions, and can the reader tell the difference? How many questions can the reader take before s/he becomes so confused that s/he gives up on the story completely?
Think of it this way: A person's brain is like a computer. It can hold a lot of information, but we've only got so many megs of RAM with which to process the stored information. Each time you bring up a new series of questions ("Where did that troll come from? Why does it want Ashlyn, and not Tetsu? Where did it go? Will it be back? How does the troll fit in with the five bikers?" etc.) you get your reader using more and more RAM. Eventually their attention starts to lag, because they're so busy processing all those questions. And then before long they get stuck and crash because they're just too damn confused.
This is what's happening with me as I read the story. I'm still stuck on the first real issue that came up, which was the troll thing. Everything else is fun and interesting too--but as I read, in the back of my mind I'm still wondering about that damn troll. ;)
There's something to gnaw on, anyway. Did it make any sense, and does it help at all?
I've got more where that came from...but my batteries are running down now, so I must recharge!
Re: Transmundane by Trip (Thu Dec 26 21:57:04 2002)
That's pretty lost, all right!
I asked a linguist about 'annoyedly'. He says, "If you use it, and you know what it means, and people seem to agree on what it means, in what sense is it not a word?"
Funny you should just now mention wondering what happened with the troll...
(The way I look at it, though, I've only had one shift of focus: from the troll to the dream stuff. There will certainly be multiple details involved in tying the two threads together, but I think there are really only two threads.)
Make a comment!
23 December 2002 - Monday
Woot! I am off-call! Now I am really on vacation! (Not that
the NOC called me more than twice all last week.)
* * *
To get out of the house today, I got my act together and went to the
noon showing of the Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets. As described earlier, it was pretty faithful to the
book. The annoying CGI character was just as annoying as he was supposed
to be, the annoying human character was just as annoying as he was
supposed to be, and the bit after the credits was pretty entertaining.
HPatCoS gets many fewer kittygirl points than
Treasure Planet, though. :)
* * *
485 words, some of them even Transmundane!
Make a comment!
22 December 2002 - Sunday
Hey, this getting out of the house thing is pretty good.
No one else wanted to see it, so I went to Treasure Planet
by myself, so there! It was pretty entertaining, so long as one doesn't
take it too seriously. (And doesn't remember enough of the original to
wince at the butchery.) They missed an opportunity to be much cooler at the
end, but they understood about humans never looking up and, hey, how can
you go wrong with a cute kittygirl voiced by Emma Thompson?
* * *
486 words of Transmundane! Go me!
Agreed, though I don't know that I'd say 'cute'... by Lynx (Thu Dec 26 11:35:51 2002)
Amelia was a hottie, that seems more appropriate. ('gryn)
Though I think the ending was a robbery, where they decided they just needed to have a classic Disney happy ending and turn her into a housewife. She's an adventurer, for goodness's sake.
Re: Agreed, though I don't know that I'd say 'cute'... by Trip (Thu Dec 26 13:48:45 2002)
But the word "hottie" just seems so... cheesy. I guess I'm showing my age. But yes, definitely the sort of cute that leads toward smooches, not to pats on the head. :)
I didn't figure having kids was really going to slow her down any; stick the kids with their dad and Jim's mom and it's off to the stars to work on their college fund!
Make a comment!
21 December 2002 - Saturday
Indeed, I did nothing at all today. Marith and Harold tried to arrange a
viewing of The Two Towers, but did not buy tickets weeks ahead
of time, so actually they just came over and picked on me for a while.
Harold says I appear to have lost weight, though, which is good!
* * *
It was only a $70 bookstore accident! And I was under the influence
of Chef Chu's!
* * *
I know sort of what should come next in The Transmundane,
but I seem to be failing to write it. Still, 360 words, which clears out
the leftovers from yesterday.
* * *
Tonight's fortune: "Nature, time, and patience are the three great
physicians."
Uh, no. Three mediocre physicians, maybe, who will suffice if nothing
is seriously wrong with you. Oh well.
Make a comment!
20 December 2002 - Friday
I have been MUDding for 13 years as of today.
That's a long time.
In celebration, I have done absolutely nothing of any use today. Not
even caught up on writing. But now I will go to Gamescape and Thai City
and then perhaps I will write. Or pulsate. Or something.
* * *
At Thai City I randomly encountered Earl & Cat and Eric and Susan
and her spawns and Yair & Linda and their spawn, so I ate my
dinner while they ate their dinner and reminded Earl about AQoJ on 4
January but forgot to tell him about the new Sean McMullen. Ah well.
* * *
A truly pathetic 251 words, leaving 149 to be passed on to tomorrow.
Someone pass me the mouthwash so I can get the taste of moose out of my
mouth.
Make a comment!
19 December 2002 - Thursday
W00T! Last work day of the year!
Unless, of course, I get oncalled at 04:45 in the next three days, in
which case I will sulk mightily.
* * *
Looking at the
new
proposals for WTC replacements (thanks, Bryant!), it seems to me that
materials technology must have improved since the last set of skyscraper
design traditions crystallized. Angled buildings? Wacky!
I think I might like
this
one best, though.
* * *
It is now officially winter. You can tell, because I'm not wearing
shorts. (And a good thing, too, 'cause it's cold out there!)
But I am wearing the shirt with Li'l Cthulhu on that Angie gave me, so
I'm still cool.
* * *
Look, it's still the future.
"Oh, sure, we'll just take that out and give you a loaner while we fix it
up in the shop."
* * *
Home! No more work! Not until next year! Muahahahahaha!
Kit will probably bite me.
* * *
Maho Tsukai Tai is clearly going somewhere; we
just don't know where yet. But the mysterious blond is clearly
Important.
We started Moldiver tonight. It is very very very
silly, but it has the requisite elements of rival mad scientists,
beautiful assistants, killer robots, and fan service.
* * *
Words today: 0. Extra words for tomorrow: 200. But tomorrow is
vacation, so I should be able to write a word or two!
biting! by kit (Fri Dec 20 11:55:12 2002)
*bite bite*!
Make a comment!
18 December 2002 - Wednesday
Cool!
(In a geeky sort of way.)
* * *
378 words today. And some work on TT, but I'm not sure how to count
monster stats...
Make a comment!
17 December 2002 - Tuesday
Is it the holidays yet?
Oh.
Darn.
* * *
703 words and some laundry. Wheee.
Make a comment!
16 December 2002 - Monday
Actually, not too much stiffness. Just a little soreness when I
stretch the wrong way. I guess this means I didn't do enough moving!
You'd think the moving I did do would have made me tired
enough to sleep well, but no. And I still have to run TT before I can go
to bed. Foo.
* * *
Words today: 320.
* * *
Tokyo Tower went okay. We were all distracted by our own silliness, but
since I didn't have much prepared, it may have been just as well. Dwarves
were befriended and lake kraken slain, though, and that's what brings in xp
so that's what's important, right?
Christy is more active and sillier than I have seen her in a while,
though, so that's good!
Make a comment!
15 December 2002 - Sunday
435 words, so no extra words being passed on to tomorrow.
Any minute now (allegedly) Ayse will call and I will go help her and
Ken move.
* * *
I must
have one.
* * *
My phase of the move started late because Ken had more stuff than he
thought he did. And sure enough, when Dave and I got to the new place
and looked in the truck, we said, "Yep, that's a lot of stuff." But we
unloaded it all and carried it all up two stories (stupid sunken parking
lots), with Stuart's help, and then went to Ayse's erstwhile house and
loaded the truck until Chinese food arrived and ate and loaded some more
and drove back to the new place and unloaded some of the truck and
became tired and unloaded some more and became very tired and unloaded
the rest and became very very tired and decided to call it a
night. Ayse has paid rent at her old place through the end of the month,
so the rest of her stuff will stay there until after Christmas.
Hopefully.
My tentacles are highly evolved for pinning hapless prey-creatures
while I suck out their brains. Lugging large objects in a gravitational
field of nearly 10 m/s2, not so much. I
suspect stiffness tomorrow.
* * *
"It is the future! You can buy synaesthesia off the
shelf!"
synaesthesia! by Ayse (Mon Dec 16 14:09:27 2002)
Umber soft drinks!
Make a comment!
14 December 2002 - Saturday
Exciting wind! No power! Trees falling on banks!
What with all of this, we didn't get to Ayse's to start packing until
more like 15:00 than 12:00, but pack energetically we did, and we even
got the loft bed apart without anyone being crushed beneath it!
Words written today: 0, duh: no power! Extra words for tomorrow:
200.
Make a comment!
13 December 2002 - Friday
Blargh. I'm glad this week is over. Although I don't know how much
rest I will get this weekend, what with helping Ayse move and move and
move. But then she will live close and there can be gaming!
Oh yah, gaming. I really should prepare for Tokyo Tower sometime
before Monday. Blarg.
* * *
479 words today.
Plus some amount of flailing randomly at D&D3e stuff for TT. Now my
brain has hyperimploded, but I have more concrete ideas about what's
going on.
Make a comment!
12 December 2002 - Thursday
Woot! Angie has given me a Tshirt with Baby Cthulhu on it! And a copy
of her friend's book! Obviously knowing Angie isn't a bar to
real publication! :)
* * *
In a futile effort to use up some of my accumulated vacation time, I
have from the Friday before Christmas (20 Dec) through the day after New
Year's (2 Jan) off. This is a total of 4 vacation days. Wheeee.
ObStraightLine: I wonder if I'll go mad from having no reason to get
up in the morning for two weeks straight.
* * *
504 words today.
* * *
Aikawa Akane from Maho Tsukai Tai is the best example of
a low-Wisdom character I've seen in a while. Kurumi from Steel
Angel Kurumi is the most aggressively submissive character I
think I've ever seen.
AUGH! The SAK opening song is in my head and I CAN'T GET IT
OUT!
Make a comment!
11 December 2002 - Wednesday
My cow orkers went to Clarke's, which I found unappetizing, so I
volunteered to remain behind. Before they had even left the building,
the NOC was in my cube telling me everything was doomed, but they left
anyway. Hmph!
It was one of those problems that just needs to be slogged through,
though, so although it took a while, it wasn't really difficult.
Then, just before leaving time, an internal machine that I had fixed
wigged out bizarrely. Oh, and one of the engineers came to complain that
his account was haunted by space gnomes. This always happens, sigh.
But finally, escape to comics!
* * *
314 words today. My excuse is that I have new comics! Also that I'm
not sure where Transmundane is going next.
Make a comment!
10 December 2002 - Tuesday
Blearghy. Accomplishing no work. Well, not much.
* * *
I successfully refrained from buying Star Hero. Hero 5 has just not
devoured my brain the way it was intended to. I'm not sure if I have just
been seduced away by the glossy production values of that floozy Tri-Stat
(BESM, Silver Age Sentinels), or have really changed away from wanting a
detailed mechanics-heavy system. I do both run and play D&D3, which is
evidence against the latter, but I only do D&D3 socially.
I haven't been doing much toward game design lately either, possibly
because I am conflicted on simulationist vs dramatist systems. Most of
the experimental systems I have gotten off the Net have been very
dramatist (with the notable exception of EABA). Perhaps someday I'll get
to run one, and find out if I actually like dramatism.
Just a parasite.
317 words.
Make a comment!
9 December 2002 - Monday
Would you name your twin offspring Xavier Tarot and Xanthe Tegan?
* * *
Bleah, Monday. But Marith logged in so we know she's not dead!
* * *
487 words so far.
* * *
And a mere 124 more, but that's a total of 611 and, more importantly, a
new
chapter of The
Transmundane! Yay me!
naming conventions by kit (Mon Dec 9 10:14:44 2002)
Good lord, no.
Transmundane! by Truth (Thu Dec 12 12:31:47 2002)
AAAAAAAAA!!!
You would wait until I was too sick and cranky to really log on and pay attention to put that out, wouldn't you?!
Now that I'm awake (mostly) and upright (mostly) I must READ!!!!!!!!
Bwahahahahaha!!!!
Make a comment!
8 December 2002 - Sunday
Apparently I'm not going to Rachel & Jeremy's gingerbread party after
all, since I don't feel up to walking to the depths of Palo Alto, and
they deliberately moved someplace with no public transportation. Busses
just let poor people into your burbclave, after all.
* * *
530 words so far. Now, dinner.
* * *
Tonight's fortunes:
- "Share your happiness with others today."
- "Confucius say: lovers in triangle not on square."
- "You will always have good luck in your personal affairs."
- "Birds are entangled by their feet and men by their tongues."
Hm. Does that look like a theme to you?
fortune themes by marith (Tue Dec 17 18:52:00 2002)
Yes. It says "Some poor unenlightened soul out there needs
their own copy of Bridge of Birds". :)
*reminded, scribbles note*
Make a comment!
7 December 2002 - Saturday
Marith is in Duluth, and everyone else is all coupley, so I went to
see the new Bond movie by myself. So there, hmph!
It was pretty good. Halle Berry kicked ass, many things exploded,
and the day was saved, and really, what more can you ask of a Bond
movie?
* * *
Words today: a measly 285. Good thing I set the quota low.
low quotas by kit (Sun Dec 8 13:18:42 2002)
Well, you're doing better than I am. I haven't even edited anything, much less written anything. :)
Re: low quotas by Trip (Sun Dec 8 17:04:56 2002)
Yes, but you make up for it by writing TEN THOUSAND WORDS A DAY the rest of the time! :)
co-authoring taken to an extreme by Carl (Mon Dec 9 09:47:19 2002)
Or is it just the case that Kit splits into 5,000 Kitlings and each writes two words, then they string them together and throw out all the duplicates for "want chocolate"?
want chocolate by kit (Mon Dec 9 10:14:10 2002)
There wouldn't be any words left!
Make a comment!
6 December 2002 - Friday
Yay! Angie scored me an AV jacket in the correct size at the MCF
yesterday! I must reward her by not mocking her for at least ten
minutes!
* * *
Marith is off to Duluth. Meep.
* * *
Words today: 587.
Duluth, Marith and Meeping by Truth (Fri Dec 6 13:20:34 2002)
Meep! Less than five hours to go!
AAAAAUGH! Must clean! Must sterilize! Must banish cat to the basement! Must finish the laundry! Must cook dinner! Must gather warm winter jacket to take to the airport!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Re: Duluth, Marith and Meeping by Trip (Fri Dec 6 13:25:59 2002)
This is why I never invite people from distant places to visit me. :)
Make a comment!
5 December 2002 - Thursday
Whee, new work phone. It's much smaller and more modern than the old,
and allegedly works much better. On the other hand, the old one
allegedly worked okay, but in practice sucked the PMW.
* * *
I have escaped Mandatory
Corporate Fun by the simple expedient of having plans for this evening.
Isn't foresight great?
* * *
307 words. Beats flinging myself into a pit, I guess.
* * *
Perhaps I'll issue a Formal Denouncement of Christmas (hey, if being
not Jewish enough to get me out of observing Hanukkah...) and give New
Year's presents from now on. The extra week of shopping/shipping time
has nothing to do with. Really.
* * *
New anime tonight: Steel Angel Kurumi. As Ray says, it is
definitely a good example of the Cute
Girl Factory genre, but definitely has a catchy opening theme. I
don't know whether I've actually heard it before, or it has just wormed
that deep into my neurons...
Make a comment!
4 December 2002 - Wednesday
741 words today, which is not as impressive as yesterday, but they're
much higher-quality and more useful words! Soon, perhaps, I will have
another chapter of Transmundane to show off!
Transmundane! by Truth (Thu Dec 5 07:08:58 2002)
Woo hoo! More Transmundane!
Not that I'm being pushy or anything.
*checks her watch*
How much longer now?
Re: Transmundane by Trip (Thu Dec 5 08:16:49 2002)
You have fallen under Silkie's bad influence! I can tell!
Presuming chapter 11 will reach a natural breakpoint within the same range as previous chapters, I am about 1/5 to 1/3 done. So it'll be a while, alas.
Make a comment!
3 December 2002 - Tuesday
Blarg. Still coughing even though I have been back from Roseville for
days. This always happens; I think the humidity there is too low or too
high or there's too much smog or something. Bleah.
* * *
Words today: 3408. Dear lord. I really should have done
NaNoWriMo!
Nanowrimo! by Silkie (Wed Dec 4 16:38:58 2002)
Yes! You really should have! :)
Make a comment!
2 December 2002 - Monday
Look, more future!
* * *
Tokyo Tower went okay. The mind-controlled dwarf was gotten rid of, a
new mystery was discovered, the PCs got to trash monsters of the
kind that terrorized them when they first arrived, and dwarves were
beaten senseless and imprisoned, so maybe they can be induced to reveal
something.
Plus, the scheduling of our next two sessions avoids the vacations of
all players, so December is not the Month of DOOOM for TT!
* * *
Words spoken today: enough to make my throat hoarse. Words written
today, however: 0.
Extra words for tomorrow: 200.
future by kit (Mon Dec 2 17:25:46 2002)
Yes, but where's my flying _car_?!
Re: future by Trip (Tue Dec 3 08:23:01 2002)
Sorry, that's in the other future, where the Singularity comes about as a result of advances in power and transportation; this future is the one with computer science and biology.
re: future by kit (Tue Dec 3 13:24:34 2002)
Oh. Well, hell. Nobody ever tells me anything!
Future by Bryant (Wed Dec 4 08:27:16 2002)
Biology is OK for flying cars. It just means the wings will move and you'll have to feed it frequently.
Make a comment!
1 December 2002 - Sunday
Words today so far: 693.
* * *
Today's experimental RPG: Donjon, by Clinton R Nixon
and Zak Arntson. It's sort of like Universalis crossed with first-edition
D&D, if you can imagine that. Maybe this anecdote about how Nixon got the
idea for Donjon will elucidate:
Zak (the Dungeon Master): You're in a small room,
with walls made of grey stone and covered with slime. The floor's about
a foot deep in water.
Clinton (as an Elf): I look for secret doors. (Rolls
some dice.) Success.
Zak: Ok. You find a secret door. It's... um, I don't
know... on the left wall.
Clinton: Really? Was that on the map, or did you
make that up?
Zak: Made it up. You searched and were successful,
right?
Clinton: Kick-ass.
So, anytime a player in Donjon is successful on a roll, he gets to
establish one fact for each success (or use successes to help later rolls),
and then the GM narrates what happens. If the player fails, the GM gets to
establish one fact for each of his successes, and the player gets to
narrate. There's a lot more about abstracting loot, gear, magic, etc, but
that's the essence of Donjon: if a player rolls successfully, his character
succeeds, even if it hadn't been established there was a challenge.
Fortunately, the text is full of sidebars giving both GMs and players
tips on how to best have fun in this nontraditional game, examples of
just about everything, and of course the experience table.
And all for only ten bucks!
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