Announcement: Story Publication Schedule

Now, I'll tell you about the other thing that I've decided to do regarding my story. I'm going to try to publish at least one chapter or section per week, starting next week. I would start this week, but it's kind of late in the week, and I'll probably spend this weekend trying to hang out with friends, get ahead on reading (for school), and work on the story. Also, I don't actually plan to publish anything the weeks that I have exams, and the weeks that my computer science projects are due. I might, but I might not. Regarding this, I have a heavy schedule for the next 8 weeks, and then a light schedule for 5 weeks thereafter. I should be fine for those five weeks - a 1-credit phys. ed. class and a 2-credit humanity - so I only might skip the last week (or two, if I have to do a paper for that humanity) then.
I'm also hoping to publish some schematics (Did I mention that my story has science fiction in it?). I plan to aim for once per week (following the same restrictions as above), but I'm only going to make once per two weeks be as high of a priority as the story itself. That being said, I might actually make more schematics than one per week, since they're easier to do than writing good prose.
Also, be warned that school still takes priority. I might have to drop down to no publications for a while, if school gets too busy. Also, don't forget that writing is an essentially artistic process. Even if I do have free time, I might get stuck when trying to decide how to phrase things, or in what order to present information, or even (for some - usually more minor and temporally closer - events) in what order certain things should happen. It's kind of like writer's block, but I don't know if that phrase really applies. I basically have the story in my head, and I just need to write it out.
So, expect some story next Friday (May 30th), and I might get a schematic up tomorrow.

Announcement: Story Publication Format

I've come up with a format for when I start publishing my story on this blog. I'm going to use a numeric spread, of integers within [0000, 1024]. Other than for something that must be the first, second, or last, I'll place things at relative midpoints. So, the first thing will go at 0512, then the next will go at 0256 or 0768, depending on whether it goes before or after it. I don't intend to use all 1025 integers in that range - I'm just using that range to give me plenty of places to fill in all over the place. I have more information to post about this, but that will have to wait until later.

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.

An Honorable Mention of Gary Gygax

I happened to run across this: http://www.websnark.com/archives/philosophical_snarks/
I only skimmed it, but it seems to be a thorough analysis of the late E. Gary Gygax's contributions to modern society. Of note, he basically fathered RPGs as we know them today, he helped to make fantasy mainstream (rather than just a subtype of sci fi), and he generated the generation of billions of dollars of international revenue. (By "generated the generation", I mean that, while he did not actually generate the revenue himself, he did make the generation of the revenue.)
R.I.P., E.G.G.

Classic RPGs and Other Stuff

I felt like updating my blog.

Earth was hit hard recently, as Gary Gygax passed away Tuesday, March 4th. While it's unfortunate that he's gone, it has also been interesting to see the community response. Additionally, I've learned just how influential his work has been. Apparantly, by co-creating D&D, he essentially created the RPG. Thus, even video game RPGs owe their existence to him. Yes, I mean you, people-who-play-VGRPGs-but-not-regular-RPGs.
Anyway, in memory of Gary Gygax, I would like to run (or play - like that's going to happen) an original D&D game (i.e., 1st edition). I would like to do a lot of things. I've had some trouble finding free & legal source stuff for early D&D. However, I did run across something called OSRIC, which stands for Old School something-something-something. It's supposed to attempt to emulate early D&D and other 1970s to early 1980s RPGs.
I am hoping to get together with my friends over the upcoming spring break to do something, so that would be a good opportunity for this. I might also have the opportunity to start getting a feel for my play-by-e-mail RPGs. I still need to work out who wants to play and what they want to play.

So, my spring break will be mostly focused on my big project, but there will be some fun in there in the form of games, and I might even write out a bit of my story. Then there will be the remainder of the term, which should take me through into May. So, somewhere in the middle of May my gaming might pick up. See? This is why I need to run RPGs through e-mail.

I'll try to post to this blog over the break.

Possible Side Project: Play-by-E-Mail RPGs

I came up with an idea recently. I'm going to see about running an RPG or two via e-mail. This has several benefits.
1. It gets around my difficulty getting enough people together on a regular basis.
2. It allows me to try some more RPGs.
3. I can do RPGs without having to have multi-hour blocks of time available.
4. I don't have to drive around all over the place.

There are some drawbacks, too, though. Any game that relies on an on-table representation of the board will require me to represent that in some way. Also, we'd need to handle the dice somehow. Probably, I'd have to roll for whatever everyone is doing.
There's also the issue of the rules set. Players all sitting around a table can pass a book - or a monitor displaying an e-book - around. However, physical objects can't be sent around via e-mail, and there's a legal issue with sending a copy of an e-book - not to mention that the files are often too large, both for attachment sizes and for inboxes.

Well, we'll see what happens.

Announcement: Story Publication

I once came up with an idea for a story. I think that it was around 1999-2000 CE, or thereabouts, when I did it. But, I never got the chance to write it all out. Now, here it is, 2008, and I still haven't written it. Ideally, I would write it all out, proofread it, round out the rough edges, and eventually take it to a publisher to publish. Of course, that takes time.
That, by itself, wouldn't be such a big deal, except that, when I came up with it, the story was taking place in the future. To be precise, it took place in a near future - and that future is much closer now than it was back then. So, I would like to at least get it out there when it's still in the future (though it probably would have been best if published when I first came up with it, due to perspective changes and such).
So, here's the plan. I'm going to write portions of it on this blog. I make no assurances about how long or frequent the posts will be, nor do I claim that I will publish it continuously (I'll likely have miscellaneous posts in between story chunks). I don't even promise that the posts will be in order (though I do intend to make the order clear).
Also, I might revise the chunks of the story at any time, mainly to make them sound or flow better. The story itself is basically set, but the prose is still uncreated.
When I do this depends on how available I am, whether I remember about my blog, whether I feel like it, and possibly other factors.
P.S.: I also might come up with other stories and do this with them, though I'd probably stick to short stories until I finish this one.