Mace's Thoughts

Imagine...

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:31:38 GMT

a world without religion... *hushed silence* *fundamentalists scream and then are gone* no fucking around false reasons for going to war. Yea, wars would still be around, but no one would pretend they were fighting for their god, which incidentally is, of course, the only god around and the right god and the one god that brings love ... why would that one god want war then?

No more excuses for psycho nutjobs when they kill people, other than the "voices" made him do so. One person hears voices, he's insane, many hear them it's religion.

The funny thing about it is, should I be wrong, I still have lived as a decent human being, unlike those fuckers who shoot abortion doctors or strap bombs to their chests, so I'd probably stand in front of the gates because I LIVED my life the humane way. If those bastards are wrong, however, well, they wasted their lives and since they are dead don't even realize the errors of their stupidity. Note the IF, please, and from all of my posts concerning this topic it should be very very clear that I am an atheist, and bloody proud of it.

The ironic part about religion in general is that it gives people an excuse NOT to work on a better world today (or any other day for that matter) because it is the next world that counts. Or money... or both. Why clean my appartment when one will move into a shiny new one eventually?

Then again, without religion, where'd all the entertainment go? I mean the entire priests abuse children deal here in Germany, and the (I hate to say) German pope basically having sealed his lips about the issue of actually employing a paedophile when he was bishop here, or whatever, just makes me wanna chuckle... after I got angry a bit... the utter insanity of it all is something, I realize more and more, that only laughter can cure, because if we were to weep at the state of ignorance, the waterlevels in our oceans would prolly rise.

Reason and sanity go out the window the moment religion blows its wad.

Gaming and whatnot

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:26:18 GMT

In my D&D group we have some trouble finding a new date, usually we play every last Sat or Sun of a given month, but over the next two months that poses a problem... mainly because I thought it cool to end the last session with a cliffhanger, only to have all the heavy hitters being stunned by a mindflayer, and the cleric's player (who made her save) declare that she ain't available for march and april.

So now I have rouchly 50% of the party incapacitated and the entire group stranded in an Underdark cavern abode of a bunch of mindflayers. Did I fuck up? No, I wanted to put a challenge in front of them, but if I play without the people who are stunned and they die because the others die, I don't feel comfortable killing off PCs when their players aren't around. Killing chars in general, no problem, happened twice in this group already, and if they screw things up they will die... the thing is, as far as I've been able to tell their plan consists of teleporting away. Fine by me, only problem is that they will most definitely not end up where they wanna go, and maybe, just maybe, I'll be a real bastard and send them straight outa the pan into the fire... a shadow dragon would be fun... we'll see.

The main problem for me is that at the moment I am not really interested in DMing anymore, the one year DMing-hiatus with me focusing on getting better and writing was good for me, but now my mind is on the novels almost all the time, and I don't want to spend time prepping adventures.

That is the real bitch about any D&D game post 2e, you can't just use the old shit anymore. Well, you can, but you need to invest a shitload of time converting monsters. The 3.5 game is pretty much the best when it comes to actual mechanics, but why all those godsdamned statblocks? I do miss the old system with AC, HP, THAC0, #attacks, treasure, or maybe some more features, but not a whole page dedicated to what the monster/NPC can do. Who gives a fuck if the scary vampire dude has some points in Profession (seamstress)???

Also, templates would've been nice, not the templates you find in the MMs, but templates for any and every class and level. Need an orc fighter lvl 8? Grab the Ftr 8 template (maybe with the melee subsection) slap it on the generic orc, roll hitpoints and bedone, wash rinse repeat as needed. I mean seriously, who needs all the feats, spells and prestige classes, when one of the IMO most essential tools is still missing. Why has there never been a supplement that stats out every bloody character class from 1-20 with everything but the variables for stats and HPs worked out and calculated properly. If any designer happens to read this: I am pretty sure that such a supplement, or line of supplements (one for each class) where you only need to slap the base-creature onto the existing level of character to create a valid NPC/enemy. Who gives a fuck about variety? I need 20 drow fighters to harass my players and I don't want to even work on one bloody statblock. Create stats for melee and ranged lvl 1-20, for every fighter/rogue/ranger/...well not the paladin, because I can't see those bastards firing a holy crossbow-avenger, but in essence something like this. Make the math sound, so that there are no errors in the statblock, and if I need a lvl 6 Frost Giant Barbarian, I can take the MM giant and just attach him to the template, adjust the str etc, roll hitpoints and next! Hell, you could also do that for advanced classes, e.g. with prestige classes added into the mix. Even more ways to make money... I don't need the typical splatbook, I want to have an easy time DMing, and the do it yourself approach may be nice for people who have loads of time and patience, but for the rest of us... you get the idea.

well, I've been wanting to write about this for weeks, now it's out...whew

Why not parry?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:28:24 GMT

This is a D&D post, even if I try not to worry too much about the game anymore, my novel(s) are more important (217k word btw).

Still, in those moments I'm trying to clear my head I think about the Conan/Pathfinder/3.5 amalgam. Until now I was pondering to use the Dodge/Parry tables as is in this thing, as a substitute for AC, but now I'm wondering if this "replacement" is really what's needed. Sure the hit-AC-trope is one of the foundations of D&D, but in combat it leaves the defending side rather passive. Why not incorporate parry-rolls? At least for the PCs, NPCs and monsters can still go for the average (10) plus Parry/Dodge to speed things up, but players will, I think, be more involved in the action when they don't just stand there and wait to get hit. It worked for d6 StarWars, why not for d20?

How I'm going to incorporate that, and how it works remains to be seen.

BTW, I'm reading Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Trilogy at the moment, fucking awesome!!!

X-Men and others

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:07:15 GMT

I already made it clear that I am an addict... or obsessive compulsive, whatever. I recently bought a DVD collection of superhero movies, x 1-3 were among them, and Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Electra.

Now, I don't have a problem withthe latter three, mainly because I never was into those comics, at least never as much as I was into X-Men. So, yea, Elektra (whatever the spelling might be) is a mediocre movie compared to Daredevil, but I was/am able to enjoy it much more than X-Men.

Why? Well, because I have some 100+ X-comics lying around here and I read'em all. I am aware of the necessity to make stories "fit" into movie format, and basing the films on material. But why the fuck take a story as excellent as "God loves, Man kills" and turn it upside down? Why not go all the way and make William Stryker into a televangelist who preaches hatred? THAT was the major point of the story, plus it would have gotten a hell of a lot of free publicity by all the televangelists screaming blue murder against it.

I have more problems with the X-movies than with most other superhero films, aside from the abyssmal Batman & Robin. Rooting the story of mutation into reality, like Heroes, excellent plan, same goes for Batman Begins and Dark Knight. But with the Marvel stuff rooting shit in the real world doesn't work, so why not go really scifi? I mean, would it have been so bad to put in sentinels? The Rogue story was logical, who wouldn't hate not being able to touch anyone? But aside from that, Iceman a student whill Cyclops and Jean, who are alongside the Iceman and Beast and Angel the original team members... no, sorry, Wolverine was the magnet for the entire show, true enough, but why not include Gambit, who's just as cool... in the comics I know at least. Or why not, if you want a major slugfest, do the entire Dark Phoenix saga... would've made a great trilogy.

Just letting off steam...

On the brighter side, I am close to phasing another viewpoint char out...

and Song of Ice and Fire season 1 is greenlit...wooohooo!

Quick update

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:51:11 GMT

It's official, I passed the 200k words mark two days ago. It's 205k words now, actually, which makes book 2 already a third longer than book 1. And the end is creeping closer, I'm just not there yet. so... since starting the manuscript on Sept 21st last year (or something like that), I've written 2 regular trade paperback novels, volume-wise. Scary...

some more Conan

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:06:55 GMT

Well, when I'm not writing my novel, I usually think about the bloody thing. I am in the last third of it, almost 200k words written baby, oh yea!

There are times when I am not writing or thinking about writing, usually when I'm in the bathroom, although I had some creative moments there as well.

Now, to the Conan/3.5/Pathfinder amalgam... I think I've figured out a way to make the entire thing work, including everything and providing a simple, yet elegant, solution to various issues.

As I mentioned before, I am not happy with the AC-arms-race, so to speak. Back in the olden days the to-hit roll was made maybe three times per round, which lasted a minute, given that the rest ofthe time you parried, dodged and so on. If you played it like that it made and still makes sense. 3e changed that, and I do understand the reason behind it... well, somewhat. The thing is, to-hit-rolls and AC have not changed, and therein, IMO, lies the entire problem.

The Conan RPG changed that, and the changes, while making the game more bloody, are realistic. Yet the entire thing doesn't really mix with traditional, or semi-traditional D&D what with amulets of protection and shit. Making it mesh is my declared goal, and as soon as I put it down on paper...errr... manuscript at any rate, I'd like to get some opinions.

So, if you're reading this, please reply.

cheers and good night

Conan again

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:53:37 GMT

The idea of combining the more traditional 3.5/Pathfinder-rules with Conan is taking shape.

OK, let's start from the top:

I always disliked the yes or no way weapon vs armor is handled in any incarnation of D&D. Yea, it's simplistic, not supposed to be realistic, heard it all before. That may have been true when the combat round was one minute and the to-hit-roll represented the one singular moment of effectiveness between all this back and forth of parrying and feinting and shit, THAT I can live with, that makes sense. In a 6 second combat round the hit-or-miss-approach is kinda silly, IMO.

Mongoose did a great job when they incorporated DR instead of AC into Conan, a regular guy just whacking away at a dude in full plate only causes concussions most of the time, realistically.

I started playing not with D&D, back in the day, but with "Das schwarze Auge" (The dark eye) the still popular German interpretation of D&D so to speak. Attacks, parries, and damage reduction thru armor, it sure as hell wasn't invented then, RQ has that honor, I think, but still.

With 3e the magic-armor arms race has gone so far that with the correct feats the character I made for my sister, a monk, has an AC of 35 or so, vow of poverty and a lot of other exalted feats, great stuff. The knight/fighter/defender of Sealtiel is with a truckload of magic items a tad higher still. (I gave away the stuff, mainly because the longest running chars in the campaign have accumulated so much shit that it's only fair. Sure, I could take the intelligent axe away from the dwarf, but that would leave the poor fellow (only recently his INT rose to 10) pretty much on his own to do whatever, this way I can rein him in, or insult him, or in general have a blast playing an axe that is far more intelligent than its owner. What's even more fun is, that none of them even remotely realize what a source of information (albeit 3000 years old) they have on their hands.

So, anyway, an AC 35 is pretty fucking hard to hit, which, for a monk, is damn cool, and "realistic" as far as realism goes, watch any martial arts movie with a fantasy theme and you see the same thing, so yea that's cool. If the monk gets hit, she's suffering the entire force of the blow, also makes sense because she does not wear armor.

However, the tank (or defender...no wait, no 4e lingo!) is harder to hit still, but when he gets hit he suffers the same damage as the monk, despite his heavily enchanted mithral full plate. Talking about fantasy RPG. If my players ever start to complain, they are right to complain, because even tho my brawling days are a thing of the dark past, I know how it feels to punch someone in the face. I don't know what it feels like to be punched that hard, or to punch someone who is wearing a great-helm, hitting a metal container with a ton of stuff inside is different mainly because of the movable-immovable object shit, but I can imagine that my hand would hurt like hell if I were to punch the dude with the helmet. Helm-dude might be easier to hit/punch than monk-dude, but a hit won't affect helm-dude as much as monk-dude.

I am pondering how to mesh the two systems, integrate the Conan-DR stuff into 3.5/Pathfinder, already have some designs in mind, and will only have to put them through the wringer, so that when the time comes for me to make yet another adjustment in my D&D game it will work.

Maybe, when my group wants to play in the Hyborian age, they will like the system so much that when we return to D&D they want something similar in place.

Too much shit on me mind... as always.

And there's...

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:15:17 GMT

over 160k words written now. Admittedly, book 1 isn't proofed yet, and I don't have a book deal, but so what? I think the story is good enough that it will eventually sell, just hafta be patient.

I think I just crossed into the last third of this story, the past five or more chapters were pretty bloody, maybe Howard's Conan inspired me, but only in terms of how to depict violence. Then again, I've read a dozen or so novels by Bernard Cornwell and all of 'em deal with war. Sure, the Napoleonic era cannot stand for fantasy warfare, but the grittiness of people dying left right and center is the same. Plus I read Azincourt, and that was fucking awesome, and almost the correct timeframe.

So, has my craft improved? I think it has, but I am biased. so far, book 1 and what's finished of 2 cover a roundabout 45 day period of time, 315k words for one and a half months with 8 or so viewpoint characters, almost all of them interacting with one another. No, I don't repeat shit, that would be pointless, and it ain't intrigue-laden like Song of Ice and Fire, although after reading the four published books I changed the way I approach the story.

It's more or less like a movie, with episodes being told following one character and then the baton is passed to the next, so to speak. Naturally it's not a, b, c, d and so on, there needs to be tension...d'oh! Funny thing though is that now I reach the point where a whole bunch of characters will be faded out... continuing trilogy (or whatever) awaits them once I'm done with the original story.

The third part will be interesting as I get to introduce some new viewpoint dudes, I already have one or two in mind mwhaahahahaha...

A lil update

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:35:37 GMT

Progressing really well with book deux, some 148k words down since I started writing the document in late September. And whereas the first book was almost exclusively drama, I spice up the entire thing with some combat... who am I kidding? Some combat? Shya, right, it's fucking war in my world, so some combat is an understatement. Like a good steak, the thing is bloody... rawr.

Hopefully the comma-errors and shit will be corrected soon in book one, so I can seriously start looking for an agent. Only thing I can do is wait... which, as a dear friend reminded me recently, is a not so long wait after all, considering I began the book 11 years ago... 11 years and so many bleeding rewrites to finally get it right... yea, I can wait just a little more

Climate controlled?

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:34:48 GMT

With the recent non-decision to do something effective about global warming a new requirement for Wall Street bankers etc in the future will be canoeing. Seriously, if economic concerns are of greater importance than whether future generations being able to enjoy snow or a life without tornadoes, I really wonder if humanity is a species actually worth saving.

It really saddens me when immediate action results in ... well ... nothing. They could have changed something, but didn't.

When coastal towns are permanently flooded it's just a tad too late.

Yeah, politicians have high moral principals... that is as long as their pocketbooks are fine. Instead of doing the right thing they do not a single thing.

Sometimes I really wish I was dumb, ignorant, and greedy. It certainly would stop me from being depressed whenever I hear such bullshit. Maybe I should just stop reading/watching news altogether again... blissful ignorance. Or maybe I should turn to religion and believe that tomorrow will be better and that one god or another has a plan.

No, wait.

If there was a god and he had a plan, any sort of plan, wouldn't he fuck humanity and start over again, writing off the entire affair as a shitty joke? And if I were blissfully ignorant, would I have a better life? I don't think so.

Fuck politicians, they never do something for the good of the people.

The Conan RPG

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:50:41 GMT

This is gonna be a short post, I will add more meat in form of another post sometime soon.

I've been reading through the Pocket Conan rules, and I really like them. They incorporate some stuff I really really really like. Armor that prevents damage, the lack of an Armor/Attack-bonus race... stuff I've been pondering on how to make heads or tails of myself, and the stuff works, as far as my addlebrained mind can tell. I never really liked the way D&D handled the thing, either hit or miss are really strange/unrealistic... in terms of realism of an imaginary world.

more on this later... once recharge my keyboard... and read some more

Book update

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:44:28 GMT

98k words and no end in sight. Maybe I'm just not made for the average 100k novel, I mean I'm getting along great in the story, or this specific part of the story, but I'm nowhere near done. I have the situations from book numero uno and expand from there. I know at what point this second part of the story will end, the journey is still a mystery to me, but that's cool ... the characters keep surprising me. A lot.

Didn't do any writing on the weekend, Sat I GMed D&D for the better part of the day, and Sunday I recovered from that and tried to force more English grammar into a student who didn't have the mind for it, can't blame her really, but I know this stuff... she doesn't and needs to.

Started picking up where I left off on Friday, after meeting with a friend and talking about this and that and my novel as well, turns out that was just what I needed to get into the mood again.

Started watching and collecting another TV series: Heroes. Fucking awesome the way they're telling those interconnected stories. I try not to watch 3 or 4 DVDs a day, well, after the first season that is. Need to keep my head in the game... err writing that is.

An average of 1.5-2k words per day, decent tempo I think, but then again I'm no expert.

Maybe, by the end of the year I have the end in sight. Have been steering the ship that way, now I just need to figure out how everything is heading for the end. I already know there will be a few characters leaving this story in the near future... hello sequel... or rather a different part of the same story. Kinda hard to explain really, it just doesn't pan out the way I imagined because even though I want the characters to go one way, they most definitely refuse to go that direction... stufpid buggers, have a mind of their own they do...

Then again that leaves me with more stories to tell which is always great.

Some thoughts on MMOs

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:06:30 GMT

I only played EverQuest and WoW, and I consider myself cured. One of my older posts dealt with this topic before so I make it brief, a sort of wishlist:

- interactive environment; lemme scale walls and stuff, even with flying mounts or vehicles it's still pretty 2-dimensional, lemme break shit etc
-make it big enough so that I, if I so choose to, be alone and can dig for ore or whatnot without being disturbed
- instances are ok, but there should also be some competition without somesuch achievement nonsense
- when you craft stuff, there should be a chance, however minimal, of failure...adds realism; also, the idea of actually creating something unique, through experimentation or whatnot, has its appeal, be it the sword of slay'em, or a blaster that uses less power, kinda nice the idea of actually having done something unique
- dear designers, don't fuck with access to areas and stuff just because people complain, it just cheapens the time and effort others put into gaining same access, there should be enough to do for everyone who doesn't wanna work for it, see item 2
- if there is such a thing as waypoints, or flightpoint, or whatever, make the transport instantaneous, because after a while the flying shit across lanscapes you've seen dozens of times gets...well... fucking annoying!
- increase ignore lists, at least make'em bigger than friends-lists, because one usually wants to ignore more people than have friends
- implement stories and a timeline, so that I, as a player, can actually see that the shit I am doing actually changes the world... if I kill the orc leader after a valiant battle, I want to see the fucker stay gone for a while, again this goes hand in hand with item 2, if the world is big enough there should also be enough shit to kill
- PVP has its place, yes, but even if I play on a PVP server (because my friends are playing there) allow an option that actually makes a character untouchable and unable to engage in PVP outside given areas, this way no snot-nosed asswipe of a kid can attack me just because I am there and farming ore or something
- maybe, just maybe, offer servers for adults, not because I wanna swear more or whatever your gutterminds are thinking now, but so that I can play/interact with people who are capable of forming and spelling correct sentences... I get eyecancer from the shit some juvenile morons type, a typo or three is ok, hell, I make typos as well, but I want to relax and as a decently educated person I can get rather touchy about fuckwits who can hardly spell anything right

Or, maybe, I'm just too old for this shit and shouldn't even bother

The book goes ever on and on

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:16:27 GMT

82k words now, another set of chapters finished. Kinda thinkiing/hoping I actually reached the middle now, but until it's done there's no telling which is which. Not that I mind not knowing where the middle is. I have a set end, and until I reach it I ain't done... might as well be just a third of the way done, wait and see.

Ironically enough, this approach suits me, because otherwise, if I ran a tightly plotted ship so to speak, I might not have some of the incredible lightbulbs going off in my head, I mean seriously cool ideas that basically fit in with every fucking thing I came up with in book one (and before).

Actually managed to implement part of the first version of book 2, though I had to edit almost every sentence, I kinda like the structure and plot, now that it's more up to what I'm capable of now. Considering that I wrote part two back in 2001/2002 and my style has changed significantly. But now with a clear goal in mind, and knowing and feeling who and what I am (a writer), the entire thing has taken on a life of its own. The bastards...err characters... do what they want to do and not what I tell'em to.

Maybe...just maybe, if enough folks here want to read it, I might post the prologue to book one here and await your comments...

On Saturday I did something I have never been able to do before, and don't really wanna repeat, but it kinda just happened, because I needed to write it. What basically happened was me pondering the pages I had written that day, all the while drinking some beer and talking with some friends at a party, and though I wouldn't have minded to stay I knew I had to get the additions I had been pondering about outa my system, so I left the party, slightly intoxicated, went home and wrote... next day I checked the stuff and I was rather satisfied because it was rather good, not the gibberish I wrote back in the day when I was drunk, which, thankfully, I ain't anymore.

sort of an update

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:55:41 GMT

72k words into book two. I'm happy about the progress altho getting that swinflu-shot knocked me off my game yesterday and today. I have a feeling that the second part will be bigger, much bigger than part one. Wrote some 5 pages or so today, not that much but considering that I'm still sorta wobbly it's ok.

I recently read a romance novel, a first for me. Gave me some insight how to write not only romance but in depth character trauma, for lack of a better word. And besides, it wasn't such a bad read either. It's strange but I don't feel that attracted anymore to "light" reading, the book has to be fun, if it ain't it goes back to the shelf, much like LotR, yea I know, a classic, but I can't seem to get through it.

Oh well.

Don't panic

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:21:06 GMT

says I, to myself. After all, I haven't DMed in about a year and Saturday we gonna revive the longest running RPG campaign I've ever DMed.

Some things will be altered from the usual 3.5 stew, or 3.5 + Pathfinder stew. I'm gonna alter the classes a bit, since one of the players has a Knight from PHB 2 now and those new core-classes outclass the old shit, so I had to salvage some stuff from Pathfinder. I'm not gonna change over to PF totally, mainly because I don't have the cash to get everything PF now (unfortunately), and because I have an almost complete D&D 3.5 collection standing around and still have to read more than just whatever I read while in the bathroom or for reference reasons. OK, I read the PHB, DMG and lots of other stuff, but reading rules is so tedious at times.

Another thing I also will change is combat. I still use minis, but only for important fights. Sure, if the group challenges the entire Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, it will be with minis, but HiGiCh has been slaughtered. Most battles will be straightforward like I used to run'em in the olden days, no conditional modifiers, just AC, TH-Roll, damage, wash, rinse, repeat. Many of my players have complained that the game has become mostly combat, and they are right, so I change it... a 7 piece adventuring party of 12th level will have zero problems with an orc ambush, or even a sngle bigass monster, unless it's a dragon, I don't have the big red 'un standing around just for looks.

An idea

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:19:41 GMT

I had for sme time now is to switch certain things I very much like in AD&D 2nd edition over to 3.5.

For example, the spheres of influence for a cleric were a masterstroke...errr... still are a masterstroke. And I still wonder why the hell they changed that to the system now used. OK, there are now 9 spell levels to deal with, but I figure that is a small obstacle. Even most of the other divine casters could work with the sphere access stuff. Minor and Major sphere access was as plug and play as you could get.

Some time soon, I will clear my workdesk and pile all them books with spells on there. Then I 'll compile a list. It will be a bitch, no doubt, but it might well be worth it, because then clerics will again be different.

Another thing that has been nagging at my gamer-heart is the switches made to the planes. The more I read of Planescape the more I dig what they've done. Planar distance to a deity's habitat lessens his influence, great flavor there, also the entire magic gets reduced the further you are from the plane the item was created on.

Does everything in a game has to conform to the min-maxing Diablo and Co are preaching? No, I don't think so.

What is good game design? In my opinion whatever the players (all players!) enjoy. If it's just about killing shit and never dealing with less than perfect circumstances these people should stick to WoW

Third time wasn't the charm

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:07:17 GMT

and neither was fourth.

Initially I thought about naming this post: Books I'll never finish, but that would, possibly, be too offensive.

OK, I began reading the Lord of the Rings the first time when I was 16, I think. Got about 80 pages done and left it, cuz it bored me. A few years later I tried again, 180 pages and I called it a day. Both time I read the book in German. Then I tried it in English, figuring that it might be better in the original language. About halfway through, or something like that, I dropped it again, bored to tears.

Guess you know where this is headed... I did my fourth attempt... 380 pages, and again I was bored. Does this mean the Lord of the Rings is a bad book to me? No, it just isn't the kind of book I like to read. Neither does it mean I dislike reading long books, hell, I blazed through Song of Ice and Fire's 3k+ pages in under a month.

What I dislike is long winding pages spent with nothing more than descriptions that really don't go anywhere, storywise. I know that many people consider that one of LotR's greatest assets, that these pages make the world come alive. Not to me, but then again, I'm not really into staring at nature for ages either. And rereading "Concerning Hobbits" for the fourth time didn't help matters, and neither did all those songs. OK, there is one song in my first book as well... one song... and it is of significance to the overall situation and its recital advances the story as well. Many of the songs broke up the, in my opinion, already fractured storyline in LotR even more.

To compare Wheel of Time to Tolkien would be an insult to the good professor, but I never got past a quarter of the first book either.

The way the LotR is told is basically the same style as many other myths, and I have to admit that I haven't read the Greek and Roman and German myths un well over two and a half decades. But I'm not sure they bogged the story down by endless descriptions of nature and stuff. Especially the Nibelungelied was far more concerned with intrigue and bloodshed... I like that, character-driven stuff... at a later point, the one I never reached I think, LotR gets to that as well, but to me that's almost like dating a woman for months without ever getting to kiss her.

Not my piece of cake, really.

I like what Peter Jackson did, sure he left out Old Man Willow, Glorfindel, Tom Bombadil, but especially in Tom Bombadil's case I am very glad I did not have to listen to his inane songs on screen, even though the character does have his role in the book, that I'm ready to admit. The distilled version of Peter Jackson, brings forth the essence of the books, and brings a dynamic to the story, the novel, again in my opinion, sorely lacks.

This is solely my opinion, and any fan of Tolkien's please don't be insulted, if I wanted to insult, I would have added a shitload of fucking obscenities

Some thoughts on Star Wars

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:37:55 GMT

Specifically on the prequels.

I guess I wasn't the only one severely disappointed by what Uncle George cooked up. Fancy lightsaber fighting and orgiastic special effects aside the movies weren't that great. Or maybe I am just a nostalgic bugger who perfers the films where Han Solo shot (not first or some shit, he plainly killed Greedo without ever having to return fire or some such, but maybe that's just me)

Back to the prequels.

I'm not gonna ramble about JarJar, it has been done ad vomitum. I wanna discuss some issues in terms of ... well ... errr... realism. Yea, I know it is a fantasy universe, but even in such a universe the laws of numbers and shit should apply.

For instance: the Jedi were the keepers of peace and love and all happiness-stuff, and all that, there was no army in the Republic. Hmmm, so when an invasion force from outside the Republic comes a-knocking the Jedi do ... what? Peel potatoes and throw 'em at 'em? Sorry, I don't buy that. Even if the members of the Republic have their own military forces... ok, lemme get this straight, the individual states have their military but there is no overall command structure... what the hell is keeping the members together? A bunch of folks waving shiny swords about?

Bottom line to that is: the Republic had to have its own military.

Next up: the fabulous Clone army.

When Obi-Wan comes to Camino he is told that 200,000 models are ready and about a million more are well on the way. 1.2 million soldiers to defend a couple thousand systems. Considering that the official number of soldiers in WWII was a whole bunch of million soldiers (I am too lazy to check the numbers now!) to fight over one planet, the amount of troopers created for the Republic wouldn't have defended more than a continent (and a small one at that) effectively. Sure there might be native military forces (to that, see the paragraph above). And who the hell was supposed to man the battleships? The crew number should have been more than on an ISD mk 2, and that skeleton crew was 5k, with about 36k of full crew. So even if those ships were smaller, maybe a total of 25k in a full complement, the initial 200k clones would have manned, what? 8 capital ships? Damn good ships! Mighty clone army! With the amount of droids the other worlds were fielding the clone wars would have been over in... I dunno how long it would've taken to blast those ships, but it wouldn't have lasted a couple of years.

Now about technology, or a different aspect of it. Droid armies... cool idea... very effective... until the enemy starts using EMP. Do I need to say more?

From the very first time that I saw Star Wars, I was under the impression that the Clone Wars were fought against the clones, not with them against robots. Why? Because it sounded far more reasonable to me, and still does. Usually we name wars after the area they were fought in, or against the enemy the victor's defeated. (Krimmian War, Indian (or should I say Native American?) War, Vietnam War). I mean, can you imagine the Vietnam War suddenly being called the GI War? Uh... I can't...would sound pretty stupid also. Sure, we also had the Napoleonic War, but again it was the main enemy/threat who lend his name to the war. There was also the Colonial War... it wasn't fought by Colonians... or something like that... too sleepy to write more on this, creative juices spent.

May the Farce be with you

Productivity

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:35:08 GMT

Haven't done much writing today, only 3 pages or so... was too tired or something...dunno.

As in book 1, the entire novel will be divided into days, some days lots of shit happens, others aren't that eventful, day 1 of the book will have a lot of stuff going on, considering that it picks up where the first book ends... and it does end with some major action and cliffhangers, also some sort of ending, of course, but it is really (I hope) that sort of thing where you just wanna read the sequel immediately.

Lots of balls in the air... now I just gotta keep on juggling... and subtract and add balls.

My therapist asked me if I am focused just on this one story, better said, she worried that I put all my bets on this one horse, so to speak. I'm not, but I've been living with this story for so long, I need to finish it first... although, there are a lot of things spooking in my head, some directly related to storytelling, others to gaming, and still others more of a sarcastic, satiric (if that's a word) nature... hell, maybe I even sit down and write a play... who knows.

Also, might be fun if I ever got together with a good guitarist again just to write some songs...

But for now it is sequel time...

Finally free...

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:41:02 GMT

or something like that.

Not much more to say about the novel, it's done. Any further alterations should be very minor. Although I haven't started sending out pitches to agents yet, I have started on book numero 2, some 5 pages or so in the box. I decided to rewrite most of it, or rather everything, keeping the general direction of what I wrote 8-9 years ago. Mainly because I consider my style vastly improved, naturally, over what I did a decade early... would be a bitch if it wasn't so.

Now the routine begins again: sitcoms & tea after getting up, a cappucino or two in my café with something to read, then writing. Oh, and occasionally doing something in my appartment. I've been in the book one zone for so long, it's a tad hard to switch back into whole writing mode, what with all the editing and shit.

Bought the new Dan Brown book... some light, uncomplicated reading will help.

Old editions and stuff

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:05:36 GMT

I've been reading some old school blogs, and that got me thinking. There is something appealing to seperate XP tables for the various classes. It makes sense, the thief needs to learn, sure, but whereas his trade is relatively easy to pick up, the warrior or wizard need more training, cuz mainly they train with much more stuff, all the weapons, armor etc for the warrior and those spells and studies for mages (wizard singular is ok, the plural not really as it might be copyright infringement...ok, that was bad). Some jobs are easier than others, otherwise we'd have a whole bunch of neurosurgeons cutting the shit out of people.

Of course one could argue that intelligence and education shorten any sort of apprenticeship. But since INT in D&D never served as "knowledge/education" there is no such thing. The more complex a job the more XP it took to progress. And once you learned a skill (in 2nd edition) you were pretty damn good at it. Immediately. This detachment from reality annoyed me, from a DM's perspective, in terms of realism for PCs, but for fleshing out folks like sages it was easy, give 'em a high INT and all knowledge stuff was pretty much a 90% chance of a winner. Still, the mechanic wasn't as time consuming as 3e... if you need an expert at something you would have to build him. Lvl 5 expert with weaponsmith maxed to 8, Skill focus Feat +2, high INT + 3, Masterwork tools +1 or so... total value +14... and how does a civilian get XP in the first place? Practicing his craft? If that was the case every application of a skill has to result in XPs also. The toolbox should be logical. If the NPCs earn XP by using their skills, shouldn't the PC smith also get XP for crafting shit? And if the NPC does not get XP for skill use, how does he level up to become a good crafter/master artisan? Does he go out and kill shit as well?

I've been pondering, when my brain ain't occupied with my novels, how to change that, but the truth is that to change it to a system I would really prefer to run, I'd have to build the thing from the ground up, since it would be more like Runequest and very little like D&D, because use of an ability does not grant the skill to go up in D&D. Level based games have their limits.

If, as the old schoolers play it, the game was boiled down to combat relevant stats and nothing else you could wing it all. I like 3e with all the possibilities, feats, and all that, and AD&D is, mechanically speaking, not really that good. Sure, the item, AC, HP inflation of 3e is akin to what MMORPGs do, lots of bonuses with the challenges rising the same way, life-points/hitpoints...whatever. It is an arms-race, quite literally.

The basic mechanic to OGL/Pathfinder/3e is fucking awesome, d20+bonus to reach a target number, pretty much the same idea the entire d6 engine is based on. I like some of the mechanice, in part, from the older versions of the game as well, e.g. the long combat round with one or two or three chances to get a solid hit through the enemy's defense. The problem with the minute round was that movement was pretty pathetic, I mean 12 yards in 1 minute...or some such thing....come ON! The discussions I had at the table because of this bugger still give me nightmares. If I find a way to prolong the combat round while keeping the attacks of 3e it might just be worthwhile, because if you convert the 6 second round of 3e to real time seconds a battle lasts maybe 30 seconds. If you look at this from a cinematic point, the entire affair might have lots of action, but it'd have to be shown in slow motion so that you actually get something for your money. Not really epic, if you consider that the game is supposed to be epic in scope...

So, if I can bring the movement of 3e into the 1 minutes combat round realistically things would change, sure casting times would have to be increased as well, and durations, and attacks of opportunity would have to be adjusted. Lots of adjusting... and I 'm also pondering the entire XP difference thing.

Maybe I should just design my own game...

Proofing...

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:07:07 GMT

I do my proofreading in my favorite café, cuz I can focus on the stuff without any distractions. Aside from cute waitresses, or not so cute waitresses, asking me if I want a fresh cappucino, or some such stuff. I sit at the bar, my manuscript spread out and a trusty pencil next to it, and of course my tobacco etc. It's relaxing to sit there, even if there are more comfortable places. But comfort gets no work done, and being critical of your own work is a bitch.

I rewrote a hell of a lot, and now, while reading it, I discover inconsistencies since I didn't stop and review the manuscript for every piece of info I changed. That happens now... almost 300 pages read so far. Some of 'em need more attention then others, but I can live with it.

Especially if it means that the thing is polished. No idea how many hundreds of words I can delete, but everything that makes it more concise will be done. I'm confident that after this proofing the book is as great as I can make it at the moment, and that it kicks some serious ass.

Then all that's left is for an agent and a publisher to see the power behind the novel as well. And I'm pretty sure someone will. But in the meantime, once the corrections are made, book deux will be written. I haven't really looked at it in about 8 years, and I'm sure it needs even more attention.

But the great thing about all this is, when I'm writing I am much more content than I've ever been before, maybe because I realize now that this is not just a hobby, but my calling. Yea, I'm a writer, and bloody proud of it!

I stand corrected

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:17:56 GMT

Today I printed out the novel, and started proofing it. 350 pages (2 manuscript pages per print out), big bugger that.

And I started reading my baby, about 100 pages today. Aaaand, well, I erred... it ain't whatever I said before words long, I accidentally put in a chapter twice, thankfully right after one another, so the screw-up was noticed the moment I finished chapter 9 and began chapter 10. I went (basically) "What the fuck!", now that I think about it I think I said it out loud in my favorite cafe, but since the staff knows me, and no one really gives a damn if you swear anyway, no one gave a fuck :)

Anyways, the novel is just about 155k words long...still a whopper, but that's life.

Checklist

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:22:57 GMT

Chapters/Events arranged: CHECK
Confusing stuff smoothed out/clarified: CHECK

Manuscript reviewed: nope not yet, got to print that bugger out first... 700 pages, ok 350 since I will again put 2 manuscript pages on one A4... uh... page

And then I have to see if it still fits together, and where I need to smooth out the edges. 157k words... but I'm confident that it works much better now. Everything in chronological order, dates included. Spent most of the day cutting and pasting...

On and off I spent 11 years of my life working on this book... damn... this better be good... hell, I'm convinced it is, but if I wanna sell my baby, my opinion counts only so much.