Argh. Eight months and no update. I am ashamed of myself, and apologize for lack of content. Though in truth, since I’m paying about 10 bucks a month for the webspace, server and security upgrades, I’m the one who’s quite literally paying the price for my apathy.
In the past eight months, a great deal has happened. I’ve discovered George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, both the books and the HBO series. I’ve acquired a new computer which has the capability of running far more advanced and graphically intensive games than my previous system. I have loaded and played a plethora of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games and I have a new vehicle: A Toyota Camry.
First thing’s first: The new computer.
A while ago, I started having odd problems with my then relatively advanced computer, a 3.2Ghz AMD somethingorother with a relatively nice 512Mb graphics card a 1Tb hard drive. It started crashing randomly, performing reboots without authorization and just generally making my life a living Hell. And since I spend far too much time in front of my computer, this was a pretty hellish Hell.
I took my computer to a wizard named Dave who informed me that it was hosed. This is a technical term which means “broken to the point where even magic won’t fix it.” He then directed me to Newegg, where I was able to purchase the parts for my computer without driving myself into bankruptcy. All in all, it cost me less than $400 to build a computer that can run almost anything at full graphics capability.
The wizard acquired the parts and cast a spell to combine them into a gainly golem of gaming greatness, which I now use to compose this very text. In addition to all of this, he sold me his 1Gb graphics card for a handful of silver. The resulting machine now sits at my feet, purring like a small, black sabertooth tiger. It has yet to cause me problems, though it does produce a trifle more heat than my previous system did.
The car, a Toyota Camry, came as the result of not knowing whether or not my truck would pass inspection last November. It had a few minor problems, and so I was able to get a really nice trade-in for it: A Toyota Camry. The Camry is the same age as the truck, and has only a few thousand miles less upon its odometer, but it’s in better shape, and has been used quite carefully. My truck on the other hand, was driven halfway across the state of New Hampshire on a daily basis before I purchased it.
It’s nice having a sedan, though I’m sure at some point in the future, I’m going to say, “gee, wouldn’t it be nice if I had a truck to haul this furniture away?” Until then however, the car will do quite nicely.
As far as Game of Thrones is concerned, it’s one of the most epic stories I’ve ever read. Martin does not pull punches when it comes to killing off heroes, and you never know who’s going to die next. Unfortunately, with the HBO special somewhat ahead of where I am in the books, I’ve been unable to avoid some spoilers such as the infamous Red Wedding, and the deaths of some of the more prominent characters. I’ll refrain from saying who, just in case you’re reading the books.
Martin’s style is pretty gritty and realistic, and he doesn’t throw magic around as a plot device. It’s there, it’s subtle and it’s necessary to the story, but the story doesn’t hinge on the use of magic like many fantasy series. It also depicts medieval life more realisticaly than most fantasy series. Disease isn’t an inconvenience in Westeros. It’s a death sentence.
And how can I neglect mentioning that I’m involved in the creation of two (yes two) role playing systems. One of my own creation, in which I’m drawing on a large number of sources in order to make a system which is not necessarily better than existing systmes, but which is somewhat different than existing systems, while retaining a familiarity that allows gamers who have played more common and popular systems to leap into it with only a relatively shallow learning curve.
On the other side, I’m assisting Tim in the creation of a system which utilizes six-sided dice. Unlike other d6-based systems, this one utilizes a kind of matter-and-antimatter die annihilation system which is a refreshing method of rolling. I don’t know how successful it will be, because Tim and his wife Felicia are about to have a child, who will probably either take up most of their time, or will want to play in the game, requiring us to translate the system into baby-talk. Anybody know the baby-talk phrase for “save vs. diaper rash?”
I’m also working on a wiki for my system, which will be up pretty soon. It’s a Doku Wiki, though I don’t know why it’s called that. Doku in Japanese means “poison,” though since it was created by a guy from Germany named Andreas Gohr, I doubt that’s what it means.
Once the wiki’s up, I’ll either announce it here or on Facebook. Or both. Probably both.
So this is only a few of the things that have happened to me over the last eight months. I hope I’ll have the drive and tenacity to update my blog more often, though I’m far too fickle to be able to know for certain.
So until then, je mata ne.