Goodbye LEGO Universe, Hello Again Minecraft

So, I gave up Minecraft for NaNoWriMo, and then I stayed away from it up until now because LEGO Universe was ending in just two months.  Well, those two months are up.  I tried connecting to the servers, but couldn't, with text explaining why.  So now I can get back to Minecraft (and also TF2).  I think that the biggest challenge will be remembering what I was going to do.  I remember what I was planning overall, but I'm not sure at what step I was.  For instance, I was working on a runway, but I went over to my other base.  I may have been planning to work on my dry dock.  There's only one thing that I know for sure:  I need more iron!

Gamma World: 1st Impressions

So, I keep seeing occasional references to D&D Gamma World, and I figured that I'd see about what it is.  Before looking up any reviews, I already knew that it had something to do with D&D, that it had to do with a nuclear post-apocalyptic setting, and that it was a bit silly.
Upon reading some articles and reviews, notably the two that are up on RPG.net at the moment, I learned a few more things that helped me flesh out an idea of what I might expect.  First of all, my wikimancy revealed that D&D Gamma World is actually the seventh or so in a series of Gamma World products designed for various systems and settings (though largely D&D).  Reading the reviews told me a few things across which I hadn't stumbled before:

• It's got one of those many-dimensions-merging-into-one things going on.  
• Apparently, in 84% of parallel dimensions, the cold war went hot.  
• D&D Gamma World uses basically D&D 4E rules as far as the mechanics go.  
• Technology is "Omega Tech", and frequently has drawbacks like being single-use or breaking down if used more than once in a single encounter.  
• It's got those old-fashioned randomized origins.  
• It apparently has randomized booster packs that can be bought in addition to the main box.  

Most of what I saw seemed to reinforce what had been impressed upon me before.  Since I've played some 4E at conventions, knowing that it uses that tells me a lot about how the game plays; I think that the simplified mechanics of 4E would lend themselves better to a pickup game, a fast-paced romp, and the randomized ability generation that occurs during the game.  However, the notion of randomized boosters is a bit of a turn-off for me.  Partly, I don't like them anyway, as the money-making scheme that they are, but also, players are apparently supposed to be allowed to buy their own boosters to make their own power decks from which to draw if they so choose.  Not only does this end up favoring the character of the character who does the most collecting, but it also poses the issue of making sure that the cards don't get mixed up.

Overall, I like what I see, and will probably pick up the box at some point.  I'm fortunately in the position of not having a reliable gaming group, so I shouldn't have to worry about someone else bringing his deck to the table.  Though, I'll still impose a "no outside cards" house rule.  After all, it's still an RPG, and the house always rules.  

Minecraft: Day One

So, the other day, I discovered that the Humble Indie Bundle guys have now released a second and third bundle.  The third one is still valid and, since I now have a job, I figured that I'd go for it.  In addition to getting DRM-free copies of the listed indie games, I also get to play Minecraft for free until August 14th.  Since Minecraft is the only one that's time-limited, I figured that I'd play it first, since the others can wait.
I bought the bundle, downloaded Minecraft, and started playing it, on Friday night.  As I'm writing this, it's Saturday night.  I figured that I'd write about my experience with the game one real-life day in.
I'm trying to play Minecraft as it was originally played, which is to say, without knowing what everything does.  Part of the fun should be in finding out what the various combinations of various things do.  After all, I could always look up later how to make things if it got to that point.  However, there are two things that I felt it imperative to look up:  how to make a torch (to keep monsters from appearing in safe areas) and how to eat food (to restore health).  In the process of looking those up, I accidentally saw how to make a workbench.
My first observation is about night.  Night is rutting annoying at first.  There are monsters everywhere, each of which has health comparable to the avatar.  Dying isn't permanent or everything, but a Minecraft avatar drops some of his stuff when he dies, and the rest vanishes, so it's a matter of wandering back to one's death point to collect what one can, then digging around for more stuff.  Once I got a hidey-hole made, with torches in it to prevent monsters from spawning there, night became more of a boredom than anything.  I go to my hidey-hole, close up the opening with dirt, and wait around for night to end.  Fortunately, I've gotten past that in two ways.  Firstly, by keeping chests and workbenches in my hidey-holes, I can craft while I wait to be able to mine and explore.  Secondly, I figured out how to make a bed, the use of which allows me to skip night.
I've also noticed that Minecraft isn't quite as addictive as it seems.  It's just one of those games where the amount of time that I seem to spend playing is less than the amount of time that passes between when I start and where I finish.
Now, I'd really like to try to make something out of metal.  I know that Minecraft has ores, so there must be some around here somewhere....

Pathfinder: 1st Impressions

 So, I recently got around to reading up a bit on the Pathfinder RPG.  (A short summary for those who don't know:  Pathfinder is basically D&D 4.0 for those who liked D&D 3.5; D&D 4E is quite different.)  I read up on the basics, up through the classes (though I didn't read the details of the skills).  (Also, as a fair warning, I didn't scrutinize it as closely as I would have if I'd thought that I'd actually end up playing it (still no RPG group here), so I might be mistaken in places.)  Here are some impressions that I got, mostly phrased as comparisons to D&D 3.5, since that's what I mostly played before:

General Stuff:
• Perception/Stealth:  I noticed that they ditched the separate Spot & Listen skills for a single Perception skill, and similarly replaced Hide & Move Silently with Stealth.  This is more in line with most other RPGs that I've encountered, and is also the first of many places where I noticed a trend of streamlining.  Also, I don't think that this is any great loss, since most races with a bonus to either perception skill had a bonus to the other (and similarly for stealth) and since most classes treated the class-ness of either skill similarly (i.e., a class where Spot was a class skill probably had Listen as a class skill) (and again similarly for stealth).
• Concentration:  I also noticed that they abandoned Concentration, the only Constitution-based skill that 3.5 had.  While it would be nice to have a Con-based skill, it's not necessary, and that one never made much sense to me.  It also seemed a bit silly, the way that it was described in D&D 3.5, since it was said to be useful for trying a normal skill (i.e., not spellcasting or anything like that) while a distraction is going on nearby, but, as far as I know, nobody actually used it like that.  (It was probably confounded by the fact that so many things that one might want to do in such a situation explicitly said that they couldn't be done during combat, anyway.)
• Fly:  They actually made Fly its own skill.  I won't say that I blame them for it.  Though it might seem weird for a rogue or barbarian to be able to spend points in Fly, the sorts of rules-gymnastics that one has to do to prevent it.  It looks like the Fly skill will make flying rules much more straightforward.  As for the skill's existence, it seems like a case of "don't buy it unless you'll be able to fly; if you gain a Ring of Flight or similar, then you might want to bone up on this".  
• The Class Skill System:  This change is interesting, though it's not actually any simpler.  Instead of having 1 skill point buy 1/2 of a skill rank, unless it's a class skill, in which 1 point buys 1 rank, now 1 point always buys 1 rank.  The benefit that class skills give is now that they give +3 to the skill, but only if at least 1 point has been spent (1 rank has been bought).  
• Feats:  Characters now gain one feat every two levels instead of every three.  w00t!  
• Giants:  I saw that they replaced the Giant type with a Humanoid (Giant) type/subtype.  I don't know the details, but this makes sense to me, since giants are very humanoid.  D&D seemed to want to make them their own sort of magical creature, like the Fey, which is a perfectly valid approach, but I don't think that they went far enough toward making them truly distinct.  Really, the most distinct Giants that I ever saw listed were Ettins, since they at least have two heads each.  

Class Stuff:
• Favored Classes:  No race has a single favored class.  Now, each character gets one favored class at character creation (humans & half-elves get 2).  Also, the favored class rules themselves are quite streamlined:  Rather than some complicated experience point penalty based on the difference between the highest non-favored blah blah blah, it's just a flat +1 skill point xor +1 hit point each favored level.  
• Barbarian:  Like in D&D 3.5, I read through the classes in alphabetical order.  Thus, the Barbarian was where I first saw what ends up being a major trend.  In this case, the Barbarian's rage is no longer something that lasts Constitution+X rounds and can be used N times per day.  Instead, it can be used Constitution+K total rounds per day, though they don't have to be consecutive rounds.
  Also, it looks like they did a combination of simplifying the power set and incorporating some thematics that people liked to get from source books, in the form of "Rage Powers."  
• Bard:  In what ends up being a rare twist for Pathfinder, the Bard's "Bardic Performance" actually gains a note of complexity compared to its 3.5 counterpart:  They distinguish between visual and audible components in the performance.  For instance, Distraction requires just visual components, Countersong just audible ones, and Distraction requires both.  Since the various Perform subskills are similarly broken down, this means that a Bard actually has good reason to study at least 2 different perform skills (i.e., sing and dance, or oratory and keyboard).
  The Bard is also where I first noticed what became a trend with 0-level spells:  They don't use up spells per day to cast.  This actually seems fair, since they're weak anyway, and it also is one less thing for which the player would have to keep track.
• Cleric:  They got rid of heavy armor proficiency, which I don't mind at all.  Channeling energy has become streamlined in two ways.  Firstly, rather than making complex Turn Undead checks (rolling twice against two tables, then having the undead change behavior), it's just an xd6 burst effect with a Will saving throw.  Secondly, it affects the living and the dead equally, though in opposite directions, and still varying by alignment (so now an evil Cleric doesn't have to have undead near him who aren't under his control for this to be useful).
  Domain spells have been retained, but domain powers have been made more awesome, and more are gained as one levels.
• Druid:  The Animal Companion feature became one of two options in the Nature Bond ability.  Thus, if you thought that companions were silly, or just don't want to keep track of a second creature's stats, then you can choose one of 7 Cleric domains, instead.  (I can personally see this as an interesting thematic option, too.)  Most things were kept the same, or similar enough that I didn't notice, though it does look like Wild Shape got streamlined a bit.
• Fighter:  The fighter is basically the same as before, except that now he has some added, specific abilities:  Bravery, Armor Training, and Weapon Training.  
• Monk:  The bonus feats for the Monk got streamlined into a choice of any one from a list at each of certain levels, from the previous "at this level, choose A xor B; at that level, choose C xor D; ...".  Otherwise, the Monk is about the same as before.  
• Paladin:  Detect Evil got round-counted, like Rage.  Channel Positive Energy got updated here just like it did for the Cleric.  Smite Evil got tweaked a bit, including a bonus for the more iconic targets:  evil outsiders, evil dragons, and the undead.  Mercy was added, which seems to go along with the theme of taking things out of splatbooks or similar and bundling them into the main class.
  Like the Druid's Animal Companion, the Paladin's steed is now one of two Divine Bond options; the other is the much cooler divine-spirit-imbues-itself-into-the-weapon ability.  
• Ranger:  They kept the idea that the Ranger chooses between archery and two-weapon fighting, but they made a change similar to the Monk's bonus feats:  Here's a list, pick one at each of these levels.  (The old way was:  You chose archery?  Then you get Manyshot now.)  Similarly to the Druid, the Ranger's Animal Companion is now one of two choices in the "Hunter's Bond" ability.  
• Rogue:  The Rogue continues the trend of streamlining abilities and incorporating optional rules into the main rules.  Options that used to be feats from extra source books - in this case, abilities that allow the Rogue to replace Sneak Attack dice with some effect (bleeding, etc.) - are now among the Rogue Talents.  
• Sorcerer:  The Sorcerer became awesome in Pathfinder.  The biggest thing is that the vague notion that the Sorcerer gets his power from some sort of magical blood in his ancestry is greatly expanded, in ways that resemble what would would expect from supplementary material:  It can be something besides draconic, and it actually matters.  
• Wizard:  Finishing the pattern that the Druid started, the Familiar is now optional.  The school specialties now come with special powers, and "Universal" has them, too.  I like how they changed the excluded schools:  Rather than not being able to learn or cast those spells at all, they cost two slots.  

Overall:  Overall, looking at the rules, I like what I see.  Pathfinder seems to streamline things, and gives more and better choices.  It seems targeted at getting rid of some of the annoyances that came up in D&D 3.5 (keeping track of companion stats, six 0-level spells per day, etc.) and incorporating some of the better supplemental rules. One advantage of this is that it looks to be less awkward, since they're not being shoehorned in after the fact.  It would take a bit to get used to it, but like I said, I like what I see.

TF2 Uber Update

Normally, I don't blog about individual TF2 updates, but this one's kind of a big deal. It's got two major differences from the usual stuff. I'll first cover the relatively minor point about the new item sets. Most of the new items released are part of one of a handful of item sets, but they're a bit different in that the item sets don't have specific bonuses affiliated with them. Instead, the new sets are only linked by common themes and by good synergies.
Secondly, and this is the big one, TF2 is now free to play. So, now you're free to go shoot people in the face and wonder whether you should buy keys to open those supply crates that you keep finding. ;) Don't feel bad for me, though. For my having paid for the game, I get a free hat that doesn't grant any bonuses whatsoever. Hey, wait a minute....

Overall, I'm kind of neutral about this update. New items add some more variety to the game. Also, I'm interested in seeing how an FPS handles the free-to-play model that has been growing in popularity among MMORPGs lately.

Artemis

Alright, I'm going to get this out of the way up front: Here's a link to the website.
Don't let the quality of the site fool you, though: Artemis is totally awesome!
Artemis is a video game in which players take on the roles of various bridge officers on a starship. In this way, it resembles but is legally distinct from Star Trek. As a video game, it's a bit unusual in a few ways. For starters, it's a fully cooperative PC game, and as far as I know it's the only one. It's also best played by several people together in the same room. Sure, lots of people enjoy their LAN parties, but here we have a game whose experience is clearly best that way. There are five bridge stations, and up to six can play, including a captain to command the others. While this might sound a bit lame, the captaining thing actually improves the crew's survivability, since it turns what could otherwise turn into a big shouting match into an orderly system of advising the captain and taking orders. And, of course, a projector is recommended for the main screen.
I started out thinking that I'd just go on and on about it, but I realize that, for anyone who hasn't played it or seen it played, most of what I would say wouldn't make any sense. I'd suggest buying a copy BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME and also because each copy has a "bridge license" which is enough to put it on five computers, for all five bridge stations. I also recommend rocking violently from side to side whenever the ship is hit. ;)

The Half-Zatoichi is Kind of Meh

So, recently (like 2-3 weeks ago?) Team Fortress 2 got another update with more new weapons to find/craft/buy. It was part of a promotion for some game, such that anyone who pre-ordered that game automatically got the weapons in question for free, guaranteed. (And I think that they might have had nice names or levels or something.) Anyway, there's a bunch of East Asian-style stuff in there, and one's a katana called the Half-Zatoichi. It's a bit like the Pain Train in that it's a melee weapon usable by the Demoman and the Soldier (so far the only pair of classes to share weapons). As always, it's got benefits and drawbacks compared to the standard melee weapons (a shovel for the Soldier, and a rum bottle for the Demoman).
The drawback is that, once it's pulled out, it can't be put away unless and until one gets a kill with it (or one dies, resetting back to the primary weapon). The benefit is that, whenever one gets a kill with it (which makes it bloody, indicating that it can be sheathed), one is restored back to full health. To me, this is kind of meh. Probably one of the things that makes it less than appealing is that, if one sheathes the Half-Zatoichi, then pulls it out again in the same life, the blood's gone and one has to get a kill again to put it away again. It's not terrible on a Demoman equipped with the Chargin' Targe, but it's pretty rough on a Soldier, whose only advantage is his higher health. Equalizer, please!

I'm at that Awkward Point in TF2...

I'm at that awkward point in Team Fortress 2 where I have one of every weapon, but not the Poly Count hats or the resources to make them. (Well, strictly speaking, I don't have the Degreaser, but I'm not terribly worried about it.) For those who aren't familiar w/ TF2's item drop system, there are certain "Poly Count" sets for some classes, which are a combination of some weapons and a hat. The weapons can be found via the random drop system, but the hats never drop, so they have to be bought or made. The weapons can be bought or made, too, but buying them costs real money, and by the time that one has enough waste material to make them, one has probably already found them. The hats can be made with the crafting system, too, but this takes vast quantities of weapons to do. (For reference, a hat costs at least 3 Refined Metal to make, each of which costs 3 Reclaimed Metal, each of which costs 3 Scrap Metal, each of which costs 2 weapons, giving an effective price of >54 weapons to make a hat.)
If it weren't for the Poly Count sets, then I'd have no reason to even be thinking about hats prior to this point. But, of course, Valve is quite clever about this. The hats do nothing by themselves, but those that are part of Poly Count sets allow someone w/ a complete set to get some kind of bonus! (For example, Ol' Snaggletooth does nothing alone, but as part of The Croc-o-Style Kit, prevents headshots.)
So, the excitement of getting a new weapon is basically gone, replaced with the excitement of getting ANY weapon, since said weapon can be turned into scrap.
Well, on the bright side, TF2's crafting system means that nothing is truly wasted. Even when I've got all of the useful hats, I can still make all of the decorative ones. XD

The Battle for Wesnoth

Recently, I dusted off the old chestnut known as The Battle for Wesnoth.
Before I go any farther: You can get The Battle for Wesnoth for free at http://www.wesnoth.org. (Also, it takes up less than 0.5GB when installed.)
I played The Battle for Wesnoth several years and 2 computers ago. Last year, I downloaded it, with the intent to play it again. Earlier this month, I started by going through 2 of the novice-level campaigns, just to re-familiarize myself with the mechanics. Since it was a refresher, I was probably fine before I was halfway through the 1st campaign, but the campaigns are fun, too.
I'm writing this post for a few reasons, the main ones' being: 1. that I need to get 3 posts done before January's end, per my New Year's resolution, & 2. that The Battle for Wesnoth is a good game and more people should play it.
The Battle for Wesnoth is a hex-grid turn-based strategy game w/ a fantasy flavor and an RPG element. Specifically, units can gain experience by fighting & thus level up to become new, better units. For many units, they can become one of two or three units when they level up, so there's a choice to make there, too. Terrain affects both movement and defense, and time of day affects units based on their alignments. There's a lot more to the game than that, of course, but I don't want this post to get all long and rambly. You can go read the wiki (http://wiki.wesnoth.org) or just download & play the game. As I may have mentioned, it's free. ^_^

How to Con-Go for Cheap

I felt like writing about how to go to a convention on the cheap. Here are some tips.

1. Pre-Register, and pay for the whole weekend. Basically, this is how to save money on the initial cost. Pre-registration is usually cheaper than the same days at the door, but there's usually a cut-off point (maybe a month before the con, sometimes more, sometimes less). It might be possible to register between then and the con, so that you don't have to wait in line at the door, but it won't be any cheaper. Also, paying for the whole weekend is almost always cheaper than the sum total of each individual day, and sometimes it just makes sense. For instance, I've been to some cons where paying for the entire weekend cost less than or equal to two single days, so there was no reason not to get a 3rd day out of it.
2. Don't pay for a hotel room. There are 3 main ways to go about this:
   
   1. Go to a nearby convention. If it's in driving (or biking or walking) distance, then just drive there in the morning & then drive back home at night.
   2. Stay w/ a friend. Maybe you know somebody who lives near the con (and might even be attending) who has a couch, and maybe you can do the same for them for a con in your area.
   3. Split a hotel room. This isn't as good, as you'll still be paying something, but it's cheaper than paying for a whole room.
3. Don't pay for food. Pack your own. Sometimes, the convention or venue doesn't want people doing that (I haven't encountered this problem yet), so, to solve this, eat breakfast before going to the con, and eat lunch (and perhaps dinner) in your car/hotel room/friend's room with whom you're staying, or wherever you can manage to eat some sandwiches without annoying someone.
4. If there's a raffle, then play it. This one kind of varies. You'll have to compare ticket prices, prize values, and odds of winning. If you're not sure, then you might have to play it one year to see whether what you win is worth it, and then play or not play in later years based on that. Note, though, that this represents a gain in market value. If you need money, then hold off on paying for tickets, since you'll probably win objects, and not money.

Also, there are some ways to save that are more highly conditional:

1. Get a group discount. This requires two significant things. Firstly, the con must actually offer a group discount. Secondly, you'll have to join or make a large enough group. We're usually talking double-digits of people (10 or more, 25 or more, etc.).
2. Run events. At least at gaming conventions, it's common for someone who runs a game to get money off of his cost of entry, sometimes up to the full cost of a weekend ticket. This often involves planning pretty far in advance, and always involves, well, running some games. FYI, I've never tried this. I'd personally rather pay and play.
3. Look into special discounts. For example, some conventions give a special recruitment discount for wrangling up new first-time attendees.

So, there are some basic tips for attending conventions cheaply. Maybe this will be of some help to someone.

So There's a Vampire MMO in the Works...

So, apparently, CCP, the company that makes the video game EVE Online, is working on a Vampire MMORPG. It should be noted that it's using the old Vampire: the Masquerade intellectual property. You know, the one where the end of the world is coming and the various lines don't use quite the same mechanics and all that.
I'm not sure exactly what to make of it. The fact that they're developing a World of Darkness MMO, and that it's focused on the Vampire line, just makes business sense. However, it seems that Vampire fans really like the intrigue involved, whereas an MMORPG is usually a collection of quests/missions. (Making MMOs out of missions makes sense: It's easy to add/remove missions modularly, and it's also fairly straightforward to come up with new ones.) Now, sure, quests could have story elements such that they seem like PCs are backstabbing NPCs or something like that, but that wouldn't be all that genuine.
CCP has said that it's going to be focused on politics/intrigue/player interaction (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103767-CCP-Teases-New-Vampire-the-Masquerade-MMO), which makes it sound kind of PvP, which isn't really my style (not that I was going to play a Vampire MMO anyway), so there's that. I hope that they come up with an interesting way to do it, though. The industry could stand some innovation, something outside of the MMORPG trinity of quest, dungeon, and achievement unlocked.
If I had to take a guess, I'd say that the Vampire MMO will probably end up a lot like DDO: Players will prefer the tabletop RPG, but will play the MMO if they can't regularly play the preferred game, to get their fix. (FYI: This is what got me into DDO, though an important part was that DDO is F2P (free to play).)

You Might be a Geek If... GadgetHovel edition

First of all, I made a Google doc with all of my original "you might be a geek if..." submissions. Here's the link.
You might be wondering what that is. Well, @Aron1701 (henceforth "Todd"), the guy who does the GadgetHovel webcomic, also does a "podcast", called the "Toddcast". Recently, his 100th episode was coming up, and he asked listeners to submit "you might be a geek if..." phrases/jokes. It's a bit like the "you might be a redneck" stuff, but for geeks. Y'know, the opposite of rednecks. ;)
Todd cheated and had a co-host on the show, by the name of "Matt". They went through the "you might be a geek if..." submissions, to see what they got and what they didn't. Since they indicated that they wanted feedback, I figured that I could provide it in this blog post. So, here it is, a per-item list of my "you might be a geek if..." submissions and how they both fared.

You might be a geek if...

...you know what a "mummorpuhguh" is. "Mummorpuhguh" (spelling it pseudo-phonetically - I've only heard it pronounced) is a sort of tongue-in-cheek term to refer to an MMORPG, as used by Yahtzee at Zero Punctuation.
Matt couldn't figure this one out, but Todd managed to, even if he did stumble over the words. However, neither one of them managed to figure out that it was a reference to the aforementioned Zero Punctuation.

...you've visited www.kli.org. The KLI is the Klingon Language Institute, and kli.org is their site.
Matt & Todd both got this one right. Todd also has a Klingon dictionary. I'd also like to point out, per their tangent on J.R.R. Tolkien, that Tolkien was actually a philologist.

...you can correctly spell any of the following words without looking them up: nuqneH, bat'leth, Qapla'. Obviously, this one was based on the idea that the list would be read on the air, so you wouldn't just see the spellings of the words. These are some extremely common Klingon terms.
They mispronounced "nuqneH". Matt somehow couldn't pronounce "bat'leth". They managed "Qapla'" pretty well for humans. I couldn't actually test their ability to spell these, of course. ;)

...you've read at least 2 more RPG books than you've played. This should be pretty self-explanatory. Myself, I've read quite a few more RPG books than I've gotten to play.
Matt passed this litmus test, but Todd didn't.

...you've applied the system from one game to the setting of another. This refers to taking the rules/mechanics from one RPG and applying them to the setting/universe of another. I present you Don't Rest Your Spirit of the Century (not mine), which takes the amazing system for Don't Rest Your Head and applies them to Spirit of the Century.
Though neither of them seems to have actually done this, Matt actually knew what I meant, whereas Todd did not.

...you've invented your own race, class, or feat/aspect/power/spell/special ability/whatever for an RPG. This refers to making one's own race (species) or class in an RPG, or, also in an RPG, making a feat, aspect, or similar thing.
Todd apparently invented a race for a game so that his player could play a droid. Matt claimed to have done it, saying that it's necessary in the Hero system, but I don't know enough about the Hero system to say whether that's really what I was meaning. To compare, I wouldn't count Godlike as necessitating the creation of powers, even though one usually does combine powers, simply because the new powers created are just a mix of existing powers. I'm trying to explain this briefly, and not doing too well, possibly because it's 0100. Let's move on...

...you own at least two dice of each 20, 12, 8, and 4 sides, and at least four 10-sided dice. This is a reference to polyhedral die sets, though one could obtain the dice individually. Basically, one could read this as "you own at least two polyhedral die sets". Each set has two 10-siders, which is why I insisted on 4 of them. I ignored 6-siders because people regularly have at least 4 among various board games.
It sounded like both Todd and Matt had at least that many dice.

...you own at least 72 six-sided dice. I came up with this number because 5mm (I think) dice usually come in a box of 36 (four 3x3 layers). Two such boxes would yield 72 dice. For the record, I've purchased 3 such boxes, for a total of 108, not to mention all of the various other 6-siders that I own (including those from polyhedral sets).
Todd didn't have this many, but ... did Matt say?

...you know what it means "to tank", "to pull aggro", and "to buff", and not in the sense of polishing things. For those who don't know, these are MMORPG terms. "To tank" means "to soak attacks/damage." "To pull aggro" means "to draw aggression", which is MMORPG speak for "to get monsters to attack oneself instead of others," which has to do with party/group/fellowship play. "To buff" means "to give a boost," such as +1 to attack, +5 to damage, or +2 to armor class.
They both knew this, and given how much Todd talks about WoW and Champions, I'd be disappointed if he didn't.

...you always know where your towel is. A good hitchhiker always knows where his towel is.
They both knew what this one meant, though neither said whether he actually always knew where his towel was. Also, Todd managed to screw up "hoopy frood". For the record, I regularly carry around at least one towel on my person.

...you know that "Him Who Must Not Be Named" could kick Lord Voldemort's ass. The Unspeakable One trumps any mere wizard.
They couldn't figure it out, even with their Google-fu. I am very disappoint.

...you give away gifts at your own birthday party. This is a reference to how Hobbits celebrate their birthdays. This one may have been a bit too subtle.
They had no idea.

...you know why that last one is on this list. Well, I couldn't very well expect people to actually give away gifts at their own birthday parties, now could I?
See above.

...you know what Goblinization Day is. Goblinization day is the day in the Shadowrun timeline when several humans forever changed into trolls and orcs, leading to the existence of those races in the Shadowrun universe.
Matt knew; Todd didn't.

...you know what the AADA is. The American Autoduel Association is of course a reference to Car Wars.
They couldn't figure it out, and with hilarious results. For further details, see the next entry.

...you know what the "Free Oil States" are, and which ones they are. The "Free Oil States" are Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, after they secede from the United States of America in the Car Wars timeline.
They couldn't figure this one out, either, until they Google'd it. Naturally, as they're both Steve Jackson properties, the result of this was "something to do with GURPS".

...happiness is mandatory. This is from Paranoia, a great darkly humorous RPG, which takes place in a facility known as "Alpha Complex".
Matt got it down to "internet meme", and I think that Todd knew it, though he wasn't able to remember the name of the game.

...you don't have clearance for that, Friend Citizen. This is another Paranoia reference.
They had no idea. Todd actually surrendered. XD

...you've died during character creation. This is a Traveller reference. For those who don't know, in the original Traveller, character creation began with determining one's character's career prior to the game, which included a mix of choices and random die rolls. There was also something of a push-your-luck mechanic: the longer that one's career went, the greater his possible rewards, but also the more opportunities to die, causing the player to have too start over.
Neither said that he'd ever had an actual during-creation character death. Also, the hypothetical scenario that Todd devised wouldn't work in D&D (which it sounded like it was). Starting Con mod never goes below -3, and one doesn't roll for initial HP, so even a Wizard or sorcerer would get at least a 4 on the die.

...you regularly say "gorram", "frak", or "frell". "Gorram" is a replacement for "damn" from Firefly. "Frak" is a replacement for "fuck" from Battlestar Galactica. "Frell" is a replacement for "fuck" or "hell" from Farscape.
Todd and Matt passed this one with flying colors, though Todd bungled the pronunciation of "gorram" sometimes.

...you can recite either Mr. Freeze's opening monologue or his closing monologue from "Heart of Ice". "This is how I'll always remember you: surrounded by winter, forever young, forever beautiful. Rest well, my love. The monster who took you from me will soon learn that revenge is a dish best served cold." I just typed that from memory, though I suppose that you'll have to take my word for it. For future reference, "Heart of Ice" was an episode from the truly great Batman: the Animated Series. It's probably best remembered among Batman fans as the instance where Mr. Freeze changed forever, as he was previously just a generic cold-themed villain.
Well, Matt at least knew that "Heart of Ice" was an episode from Batman: the Animated Series, so there's that. ... moving on...

...you know who Elim (the tailor) is. This is, of course, a reference to Elim Garak, from DS9.
FAIL!

...you sometimes read sequential art right-to-left. This is, of course, a reference to Japanese manga. If you sometimes read manga, then you might be a geek.
Todd knew that "sequential art" means "comics", but considered the whole thing a puzzle. Matt had it figured out.

...you know what "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu" is, and watched it in broadcast order. "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu", better known as "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" here in the states, is an anime series famous for being broadcast in non-chronological order.
Todd had no idea. Matt at least knew what it was, but assumed that I meant "while it was being broadcast".

...you've dressed up as a video game, anime, manga, or western print comic character, and it was neither Halloween season nor a costumed ball. This basically means "you've cosplayed", but limited to the particularly geeky things. I also didn't want to give everyone who's ever done Halloween a free pass.
Todd hates costumes. Matt had some weird story about wearing tights.

...you answer uncertain questions with "42". This is another Hitchhiker's Guide reference.
They got it.

I actually sent in another "you might be a geek if..." at the last minute, but it apparently wasn't soon enough to make it onto the show, so I'll avoid mentioning it here just yet, just in case it gets mentioned on the next episode.

New Side Project: If you liked Portal, then you'll love Paranoia

Recently, watching those Portal 2 trailers/previews got me thinking: "I could sure go for some Paranoia right now." You know, Paranoia, the game where The Computer controls everything, and is your friend, and where you could easily die due to your own stupidity (you should have known that that corridor was full of invisible lasers) or as just one subject in The Computer's experiments.
The first edition was published in Nineteen Eighty-Four.
I realized that people who liked Portal would probably like Paranoia, as far as RPGs go. Admittedly, if they don't already play RPGs, then Paranoia is probably a bad introduction to them, seeing as how knowing the rules is treason, but that's beside the point.
Anyway, that got me thinking: Given a video game, what RPG would a person who likes that probably also like?
If you liked Portal, then you'll love Paranoia.
If you liked DDO, then you'll love D&D 3.5.
That's all that I've got so far. I'm working on a list, which you can find here. If you have suggestions for VGs that I forgot, RPGs that I forgot, connections that I missed or didn't do justice, or whatever, then leave a comment below, send me an e-mail, or hit me up on twitter.

Survival Mode Tweak

I've come up with a tweak to what I'll call "Survival Mode" in this post. Survival Mode, for our purposes, is a mode in a video game (usually a first person shooter) where each team (usually 2, possibly more) has a certain number of lives, and the first team to run out of lives loses. (Problems arise with 3 or more teams. Does the game end when 1 team is out? (presumably, whoever has the most lives left wins) Or do you keep going until there's one team left with lives? (creating a player elimination - or in this case, team eliminatiion - mechanic))
But what if the teams have different numbers of players? For instance, what happens in a 5v4 game? Well, usually, each team gets the same number of lives. In some games, though, the larger team might have an advantage, as 5 people are better at killing 4 people than 4 people are at killing 5 people, all things being equal. Here, I propose a tweak to this sort of gameplay.
Instead of counting deaths, count spawns. In this way, the team with 5 players uses up 5 spawns right away, while that with 4 players only uses up 4 spawns. Of course, this shortens the game unless the base level of "lives" is changed, but that's up to each game, anyway.

Haiti, RPGs, and Value Determination

On Monday, I heard about something interesting. Apparently, I could donate $20 to Haiti relief via RPGNow.com, and I would get over $1000 worth of products. This sounds great. I investigated it, and the money specifically to Doctors Without Borders (a.k.a. "Medecins Sans Frontieres", excuse lack of accents since my keyboard makes those nearly impossible) and their Haiti relief effort.
Before I go on, I'd like to point out that I don't need convincing. On Tuesday (when I looked), I donated the $20. I had been meaning to donate, and this seemed like a good opportunity to do so. For various reasons, they say to leave 1 business day to process (by now, mine should be done) and another 1 to 2 business days to get the e-mail saying that the downloads are ready.
I started mulling this over in my mind. Theoretically, donating to the relief of Haiti is already a good thing, but can I prove it? In a much more concrete manner, my transaction has produced value. My $20 has not ceased to exist - it has gone to Doctors Without Borders, who are in turn helping Haiti. However, there are suddenly $1000 worth of legal downloads that did not exist before. Note that I did not necessarily generate information - the files already existed and were already downloaded by countless others - but I did generate value.
To put it into terms of the two entities directly affected by this: I lost $20 in capital and gained $1000 in market value of electronic products, and Doctors Without Borders has gained $20 in capital. Thus, they netted $20 and I netted $980, in capital and market value, respectively.
Of course, that explanation has a clear flaw. While $1000 is the market value of products that I will receive, if I do not actually use any of them, then it is $0 gross gain and -$20 net gain for me. For this cause, I consider that acceptable, but that does not actually explain anything.
My true net gain will be -$20, plus the market value of each product that I eventually use. I obviously cannot determine that before I even receive the products, but I can estimate. The products in the bundle are listed on the site, so I will go through that list and try to determine which products I will actually use:
17 Archer Feats/17 Bard Spells/17 Magic Shields/17 Monk Feats/17 Plants/17 Rogue Feats: $0.99 each - (d20 system) I expect to be able to use at least 2 of these. $1.98
Adventure Essentials: Holy Water: $1.99 - (d20 system) $1.99
Adventure Essentials: Rope: $1.99 - (d20 system) $1.99
Apocrypha - Myths of the World: $0.00 - (no system) This sounds handy for inspiration for lots of things. $0.00
Basic Poker Playing Cards 1: $0.50 - (no system) These sound fun/handy to have. $0.50
Bits of Magicka: Pocket Items: $4.50 - (d20 system) I'm fairly confident that, at some point, I'll be running a game where a player wants to pick pockets, and I'll want to make it interesting. $4.50
Book of Races: $8.00 - (D&D 4E) Odds are good that I'll play or run 4E at some point, and that this will be handy either for a race used or for reference. $8.00
I'm going to pause here for a moment. I've reached the bottom of the second page of the list, and there are 12 pages total. My total estimated value is $(1.98+1.99+1.99+0+0.50+4.50+8.00) = $18.96. Unless the remaining 10 pages of listed products are unusually dry of useful material, I expect to at least double that amount, resulting in about $18 of net profit on my end.
Well, that was an interesting exercise, even if I didn't finish it.
If there's a lesson to be learned from this, I'd say that, if you want to donate to Haiti and also like RPGs, go through RPGNow to do so. You'll help Haiti, produce value, and possibly profit. If you want to donate to Haiti but don't like RPGs, then donate through whatever means you prefer.

Posts to Come: All-in-one List as of Xmas 2008

It's harder to track my list of posts to make when they're all spread about, so here's a consolidated list of what I still need to do, as of now:

Posts:
Was Serenity a Nail in Firefly's Coffin?
Things of a Literary Nature: Innate Timeline Branching in Fiction
Crisps, Chips, or Fries?
Centaur or Thri-Kreen?
something about Arkham Horror (mechanics, summer league, etc.)
some kind of game review

Edits:
Add to and update "RPGs for Me to Play".
http://games.yahoo.com/daily-games/sudokudaily for having found sudoku w/ green dots

I also intend to post a section of that story that I'm trying to write. I'm not doing it by chapter at this point. I am still trying to write, but I seem to have trouble getting the words to flow. Here's what else is going on in my life:
Basically, since commencement (Did I mention that I'm graduating? The bureaucracy still needs to do some stuff, but, as far as I know, I've got a diploma coming my way.), I've been taking a break. That won't last long, since I need to find a job.
I also want to get through the Arkham Horror Summer League (new URL: http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=6&esem=4 - and you have to log in for the text to turn into links). At this point, I'm doing it by myself, and I'm halfway through. The last scenario got released last week. I hope to get through the last of the scenarios that don't require Curse of the Dark Pharaoh by ... soon. Then, I need to get Curse of the Dark Pharaoh so that I can do the rest. I also got 4 books for Xmas, 3 of which I intend to read when I get the chance (the 4th is for either of two RPG systems that I don't use yet, so that will wait).
Of course, this is all aside from the stuff that I need to do, like looking for a job and working on getting some certifications. And losing weight. And practicing my martial arts. And cleaning my room.
That's all for now.

Merry Xmas

Well, we've survived Robot Santa's attacks yet again, and I came out on top this time. I'm just posting this to say what I got.
I got a WristStrong bracelet and A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All.
I got Spirit of the Century and Don't Rest Your Head, each in both print and PDF form. DRYH also came with a free gift of Reality Storm: When Worlds Collide, which has Silver Age Sentinels stats for a bunch of Champions Universe characters and HERO System stats for a bunch of SAS characters, and complete, official rules for converting between the two. Of course, I don't have either system, so that'll be shelved for a while. I also got some Fudge dice to go with SotC.
I also got Steampunk, an anthology of steampunk stories.
More blog posts are coming soon.

Miscellaneous Updates

Well, life's been pretty hectic this term. I've got finals this week, but after that I should be able to post more.
Quick notes:
-My play-by-e-mail game now has a genre, and will probably get a system soon. Once I'm out of school, I should be able to get a regular schedule, so that I can update regularly.
-I would like to update this blog at least weekly.
-I would like to do that story thing that I was trying to do.
-"War is other people." -me; this results from that war is hell and that hell is other people
-I want to do some stuff on games, including some reviews and some mechanics analyses.
-There should be a site like boardgamegeek for RPGs.
-Reminder to self: There are several posts that I wanted to go back and edit, as mentioned in the posts themselves.
I'll try to post something more complete later on. If I don't do it before Friday, then I probably won't do it on Friday, either. Saturday or Sunday would be the likely times then, assuming that I remember. :P
That's all for now.

Announcement: Everything Delayed

Things have been really busy with school, especially with programming assignments. Also, my computer died last Thursday, so my whole weekend was shot. I got a new computer. It's alright. The screen's not as big or ... resolute?..., and it's running vista, but it also has about 6 times the memory and nearly 4 times the disk space of my old one. It also weighs much less and takes about half the voltage of the old one. Plus, new laptop means new battery, so I should be able to use my laptop portably again.
Some of my stuff from my old computer got backed up. It should be most of my important stuff, but I'm not ready to restore stuff yet. I've got a lot of schoolwork to do in these next few weeks. I want to look into putting a virtual machine on here, too. I think that I'll get around to that in the second week of July at the earliest. So, also, don't expect any story stuff until July 18th or thereabouts. Speaking of the story, I've recently been inspired regarding another story. Long story short, it's about supers. You heard me.

Also, regarding my play-by-email RPG, I'm still waiting for some feedback. If any of my players are reading this, I only have a partial response from M, and I have no response from C. You know who you are. However, I don't think that anyone reads this, so I'll be e-mailing folks. Maybe I should mention my blog there.
That's all for now.

I've Found Something: Car Wars Podcast

I found the Car Wars Podcast. I guess that it was down for a while when I was looking before. I just happened to stumble across it again.

Here it is: http://cwhnj.com/madhat/carwars/podcast/default.htm

I've only listened to the introductory episode so far.