April 18, 2012 - Comments
So I've been away for a couple weeks. Sorry about that! I've been moved across the country to Norfolk, VA and are spending a little time here before I'm stuffed in a ship and put to slave labor for a few months. I hope that you all have been well, and are enjoying exploring my little corner of the world. I hope to have more up here later!
February 28, 2012 - Comments
Well, to put it politely, this has been a moderate pain in the ass. On the plus side, it has been a very fun pain in the ass. In short, I had to learn about VPS (virtual private servers), find a reliable one that is also inexpensive, open an account, set up the servers that I am going to use, configure them, install Perl and PHP, configure them, test like mad, and finally start the DNS redirection. If you are seeing this post, and the 'Forum' link up top, you are on the new server. Hopefully I will be completely migrated and off of Dotster within the week.
As to the forum, there's not much there yet. I'm not entirely sure I'm going to keep it around forever, but for right now, it's up and open for registration. Expect the look of the forum to change a lot over the next few days as I play around with themes and styles and the like. Regardless, feel free to come on in and make an account, post, look around, etc. I look forward to hearing from you!
February 23, 2012 - Comments
Over the past year or so, I've been doing a lot of reading about Shamanism. Especially on topics like how to apply it to modern times, the changing role of the shaman, etc. But I think I've come to the conclusion that I really just don't get it. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure I want to. At least, not the form of Shamanism that these people are trying to peddle! Let me explain.
A fairly universal theme for these people peddling "modern Shamanism" is to use flowery prose and push the idea of "self discovery" and "personal truths" and the like. There's a lot of talk about improving the self and finding your balance. Don't get me wrong, that's certainly a good thing to do - "Physician, heal thyself," and all that. But it's just that everyone pushing this "modern Shamanism" idea seem to miss the exact same thing, something that I thought was, and still think is, core to Shamanism.
Helping others.
I can just hear the arguments now. "You can't help others if you're not perfect," or, "By helping yourself you do help others." I really don't want to hear it. Call me ignorant if you want to, but I'm going to stand firm and come out and say that I believe that someone who truly wishes to follow Shamanism needs to realize that it's not just about themselves. We're supposed to be the people that others turn to when they need help - the ones who provide guidance, comfort, healing, and most importantly, love. No, not the lover kind of love - genuine love from one person to another. The kind that is always patient, always kind, willing to place others before itself.
Know what I believe? You don't have to be perfect to follow Shamanism. You don't have to live up to anyone's expectations, you don't have to be or do anything except this: You have to be loving. If you truly love your fellow humans, you will do everything you can to help them - to heal, guide, and protect. You will be the healer to patch up their wounds, and you will be the warrior to help them defend themselves. And that's what we're here for, isn't it, as a shaman - or in my case, as someone who is doing his level best to get there?
I may be wrong. But I wanted to address this, because deep down, I want to see people step up and love others. There's too much focus on I nowadays. I think it needs to be on us, because we all need each other.
Please feel free to drop me a line by clicking on the 'comments' link above. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic!
February 20, 2012 - Comments
Holy mackerel. I never realized that by introducing a couple of people to my game system that it would explode quite like it did. So I've been somewhat rushed to hammer out a few rules for my system that clarify issues that badly needed clarifying, before the game goes to playtesting. Speaking of playtesting, my wife and I are looking for anyone willing to test and participate in a play-by-email/play-by-post module that she is currently working on. This may extend out into a series of modules or even a campaign depending on the interest and how everything runs, so if you're interested, drop me a line at the comments link above and let me know!
February 19, 2012 - Comments
So I did a little hammering on the SRPS today. I took some of the notes that were written out in list form and formulas and expanded them with actual explanatory text. I also fleshed out some of the combat rules in order to clarify a few situations that players will face. I know I'm going to need a lot of playtesting to get that section right, but it's a fair start, or so I think. Also started working on an example adventure, but that's going a lot more slowly than I'd like!
I've also done a little fiddling with the Singularity game, but none of it is really client side visible. Sure, if you're a developer and want to mess with the CSS to unhide what I've done, go ahead, but it's not functional and nothing world-shattering. A lot of conversion is learning that the UI used in stand alone games doesn't work so well in web browsers, and trying to see if I can reinvent the UI to work better for web apps. And check the compatibility across devices like the iPad/iPhone and other small screen devices.
On a personal front, I'm moving across the county next month. Heading to VA on March 16th! Got to love the Navy and their strong desire to shuffle people from coast to coast... sigh. Ah well, I'll finally be in the real fleet, doing what I'm being paid to do!
February 12, 2012 - Comments
Ok. I'll admit something, full disclaimer: This new project of mine is a direct rip-off of the game Endgame: Singularity written by some very talented folks, all credit for the game idea and gameplay goes to them.
Now. Here's the thing. The game is written in Python, which is fine and all, but not everyone has access to it. It's cross-platform across the "big 3" (Windows, MacOS, and Linux) on desktops/laptops, but isn't accessable from other devices at all. And really, it hasn't been updated - gameplay wise - since July of 2010. A year and a half ago. And that, frankly, is a crying shame and I intend to fix it in short order.
"But why don't you just work on the game as it is," I can hear some of you cry. The answer is twofold: First, I don't know Python, and have no interest in ever learning the language. Second, I want the game to be more accessable, and available to play even on devices that have no ability to download and install binaries. If it can surf the web, and supports modern HTML/CSS/JS standards, there's no reason it shouldn't be able to play.
Now, I am not going to put a link on the main menu until the game is actually playable, in beta. However, if anyone wants to check on the game's progress, there's going to be a link right here for you to check it out. If you do, and you have any ideas or suggestions, please don't hesitate to drop me a line!
February 10, 2012 - Comments
Ok. This is just too absurd not to share. Apparently, there is a "gentleman" who posted a video to YouTube wherein he shot his daughter's laptop because she, like every other teenager on the planet, complained about her home life. Granted, she did it on Facebook, so it was a slightly larger audience than "a few friends at school," but talk about your disproportionate responses! Not to mention the fact that the idiot decided that airing his family's dirty laundry publically was a good idea!
I don't care how angry a child makes you, if you sink to their level (or below) than you aren't worthy of being called an adult. Tommy Jordan, you are a poor father to your daughter - regardless of if she handled the situation well or not, you are teaching her the entirely wrong lessons. Sure, shoot her laptop if it makes you feel better and get your rocks off, nobody can stop you from doing that. Just don't teach your daughter that when her kids are misbehaving that it's perfectly ok to sink to their level, and to air that dirty laundry publically.
For those who are curious, here is a link to the video, and here is a link to this "father's" Facebook post about the issue.
February 04, 2012 - Comments
So I finally got around to making a site map and expanded the scope of what I will be doing with my SRPS over time. Hopefully I can get some adventures put up, and some sample characters, and get some feedback on how the system runs. I know it's not entirely possible right now, but soon, I hope! I'd love to make a system that's fun to use, simple, and encourages play versus rolling a ton of dice to do a single action - yes, D&D, I am looking at you.
I also have to note that making a site where the navigation (beyond the top bar) is just embedded in the pages or on the site map confuses me. It seems like burying the information where it's hard to see, but when I actually think about it, it's just making sure you only see the information you need to see. If a person isn't interested in the SRPS, for example, they don't have to see it in any menu bars except for the main page. It's just a navigation system I'll have to get used to, I think.
January 29, 2012 - Comments
Welcome to my blog. Here is where I am going to be posting anything that pops into my head that I feel the need or desire to keep track of, or share with anyone who cares to read. I realize that it's odd in today's age to actually still manually be posting blog entries, but I find that it works for me and really isn't too much of an issue. It gives me finer grained control over what I am doing than using a CMS like LiveJournal or WordPress does, and isn't nearly as much of a hassle.
I'm not entirely sure what to put on the website yet, to be honest. I was contemplating putting a section for politics, but that really doesn't seem like something that I want to air to the world. I'd like to put up random things that people would enjoy, like a JavaScript/AJAX Scrabble or Monopoly clone type game, but that's for a while off yet. Things to do immediately are being done by a lot of other people. Maybe I'll post some short stories up or something, just to get some content going.
P.S. I managed to shine my boot toecaps to a mirror finish tonight. Within the next week or two, I hope to be able to do that across the entire boot, and my dress shoes as well. If I can trick people into thinking they are cloroframs(sp?), my job will be done and done well.