Blog Posts Across The Dire Cafe

Marching Orders

By the time you read this, we will have made the announcement to the rest of our soldiery (congregation). As of the end of June, my wife and I will be leaving the beautiful Piney Woods of East Texas and wend our way north to the Mecca for Salvation Army operations in Texas. That's right. We have been appointed to the Divisional Headquarters where I will serve as the Finance Officer (training to be essentially a regional CFO for The Salvation Army) and my wife will serve as the Assistant Secreta… Continue

Posted by Hank Harwell on May 11, 2008 at 6:40am — 1 Comment

R.I.P. Godert VanderHart 1909 - 2008

Thursday April 24th I lost the man who was the biggest influence on my life, my Grandfather. Godert C. VanderHart is survived by 2 children, 10 grandchildren, and 20+ great-grandchildren. His quiet demeanor and sense of humor served him until the very end. If I can say at the end of my life that I amounted to be half the man he was, I will consider myself a success. Godspeed, Grandpa Continue

Posted by Vulcan Stev on April 28, 2008 at 3:20pm — 2 Comments

I Have Three Stooges Syndrome

Doctor: Mr. Burns, I'm afraid you are the sickest man in the United States. You have everything. Mr. Burns: You mean I have pneumonia? Doctor: Yes. Mr. Burns: Juvenile diabetes? Doctor: Yes. Mr. Burns: Hysterical pregnancy?! Doctor: Uh, a little bit, yes. You also have thousands o… Continue

Posted by Berin Kinsman on April 27, 2008 at 10:04pm — 2 Comments

How I've Felt (On GOOD Days) For The Past 5 Weeks

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Posted by Berin Kinsman on April 25, 2008 at 9:36pm — 11 Comments

If I Had a TARDIS

I would give up all the first issue Supermen in 1938 the how do you dos Mr. Lincon in 1865 the love your works Mr. Shakespeare in 1616 the compound interest since 1937 the polaroids in the first billionths of a second I would give up all the fallen leaves in Gethsemane the nightmare laser guns in the South the fake Mona Lisas in Florence the triangulated peepholes in Dealey Plaza the hairs on Einstein’s head I would give it all up for one shiny new never been used dollar twenty nine brake ligh… Continue

Posted by Cameron Goble on April 18, 2008 at 9:00pm — 2 Comments

Only so many hours in the day.......

I've heard from no fewer than three folks here at the cafe wondering if I've dropped off the face of the Earth. (Thanks for caring guys 8-) ) Seeing how the were enough worried that they dropped me a personal message, I figured the rest of you were wondering as well. Life has been very hectic here in my own little patch of the Midwest. In addition to the 12 hour days at the Redemption Center, I still have plenty of family crisises that I won't bore you with. I enjoy my time here, but time wit… Continue

Posted by Vulcan Stev on April 18, 2008 at 12:55pm — 2 Comments

I'm Published! Part 2

The March issue of The Old Radio Times: The Official Publication of the Old-Time Radio Researchers has just been posted. Inside is my review (from my LiveJournal entry) of The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen. You can get the pdf issue here. Continue

Posted by Hank Harwell on March 25, 2008 at 6:00pm — 10 Comments

Two new friends only post on my profile page

-- Continue

Posted by Berin Kinsman on March 18, 2008 at 10:25pm — No Comments

Trying to think of how to do this without sounding whiny.....

This winter has been one I don't want to remember for some time. My portion of the state of Iowa had it's 5th snowiest winter ever. The furnaces went out in at both my home and business. My 97-year old grandfather is in failing health and we're planning his funeral. My wife's car got hit in Waterloo and the insurance company said she was at fault (I'm trying to wrap my head around that one). To top it all off I tripped and fell at work on Saturday. The irony is I tripped over a broom that I was… Continue

Posted by Vulcan Stev on March 11, 2008 at 11:04am — 10 Comments

Character skills

This is a random idea for a narrative/lite style game engine. The basic idea is to have game characters similar to those in a novel. You may have a highly skilled character, but you don't have to invest as much time & effort into character generation. This also serves to make the character easier to 'get into' as much of the skillset isn't revealed initially. There is no game engine for this, and there may never be--the idea itself isn't married to any particular mechanic. As always, there… Continue

Posted by Golgotha Kinslayer on February 22, 2008 at 2:57pm — No Comments

Evolve!

Use a condom! This is what a popular ad is telling people at the moment. I can't help but revel in the irony. As without reproducing, there is no evolution. Continue

Posted by mrmontie on February 15, 2008 at 12:01am — 7 Comments

Public Domain Business and Product Titles

Public Domain Business and Product Titles This is a collection of businesses and products that do not actually exist. All of these are placed in the Public Domain for unrestricted use. No copyright is claimed, and this document may be used by anyone anywhere without fees or restrictions of any kind. Neither trademarks nor droit d'auteur are claimed. At the time of publishing, no trademarks or other rights claimed existed in any markets--these products and businesses do not exist. You may freely… Continue

Posted by Golgotha Kinslayer on February 13, 2008 at 1:57pm — 1 Comment

Garl Glittergold Died For Your Sins

http://unclebear.com/?p=362 Continue

Posted by Berin Kinsman on February 3, 2008 at 5:08pm — No Comments

Second One

Yeah, well, blogging has not yet fully entered my consciousness. More than a month since my initial entry. Here I am only now writing a little bit again.

As far as games go, I'm running a pbem based on the old Twilight-2000 role playing game. I've done several of these before, and I always seem to have the same issues creep up. People sign onto the game, are 'high maintenance' with lots of questions and lots of enthusiasm. Then after only two or three weeks, suddenly they are gone and…

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Posted by Big Wave Dave on February 1, 2008 at 5:43pm — No Comments

Radio Active 61

Nuketown Radio Active #61 is up and features review of the new print RPG magazine Kobold Quarterly as well as some ramblings about previewing D&D 4th edition. There's a bunch of other geek life related stuff as well, such as experimenting with Google Code, surviving an open source coding conference, and much more. Continue

Posted by Kenneth Newquist on January 31, 2008 at 8:51am — No Comments

I'm Published!

The January issue of The Old Radio Times: The Official Publication of the Old-Time Radio Researchers has just been posted. Inside is my review (from my LiveJournal entry) of Moon Over Africa.

You can get the pdf issue here. Continue

Posted by Hank Harwell on January 29, 2008 at 12:36pm — 3 Comments

When the furnace is broke it's cold inside as well....

This story has a happy ending but...

Thursday morning started off with the wife and daughter attempting to get their cars running. It was -22 outside. Neither got their vehicles going. I self-assuredly tell my womenfolk that I'll get my can company truck running and I'll get everyone to where they need to go.

Yeah, right. The van did it's best impersonation of a teenager not getting out of bed.

So we call the school, wife's work and tell the sob story of how nobody is goi…

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Posted by Vulcan Stev on January 25, 2008 at 2:33pm — 3 Comments

The Long-lost radio script

Some time ago, I revealed here that back in the eighth grade I was the vice-president of our middle school's Sci-Fi Club, and wrote the script for a radio play we produced.

I have recently found my copy of the school's literary journal that contained the printed version and was distributed to all students and faculty at the end of the year.…

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Posted by Hank Harwell on January 22, 2008 at 8:32am — 1 Comment

19 years on Monday...

Tonight I'm taking my wife of 19 years out for our annivesary. She's picking the restaurant but we're doing it on the company's dime because we're bringing a load of cans along.

She's the best thing that ever happened to me. She's my reality check, friend, partner, and the love of my life.

We're doing the annivesary thing tonight because Saturday is always busy at the redemption center. Sunday is always busy with Church stuff. And Monday our 16-year old has a concert that we can…

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Posted by Vulcan Stev on January 18, 2008 at 2:06pm — 6 Comments

Mixin' it up!

I finally convinced my boss to buy the necessary cable to hook one of our internet capable PCs up to the overhead sound system in the store.

The cd player broke several months ago, so we were stuck listening to one of two stations that come in. One being the college station which sounds like a robot duck being drown in a vat of gasoline most of the time. the other being a "smooth jazz" station that doesnt know the definition of the word jazz and feels the need to announce their call let… Continue

Posted by mrmontie on January 16, 2008 at 8:55pm — 4 Comments

Finally reviewed Savage Worlds

I've only wanted to do this since GenCon in August. :) My review of the Savage Worlds Explorers Edition is up on Nuketown. Continue

Posted by Kenneth Newquist on January 14, 2008 at 7:24am — No Comments

Radioactive Podcast Returns

It took me a while, but Radio Active #60 is finally out. It's got a (much delayed) NaNoWriMo Wrapup, ramblings about the Legend of Zelda game for Nintendo DS, and a round up of the podcasts I've been listening to since November ended and I started catching up with my digital life again. Continue

Posted by Kenneth Newquist on January 9, 2008 at 6:22am — 1 Comment

I'm out of Phase....

I have this weird feeling that I have phased out of the mainstream universe. I can still hear and see the real world but it slides by me without my affecting it in any manner.

I'm either in a Star Trek episode or one of theose bad sitcom episodes where the character has died and doesn't realize it.

Maybe its just the fact that I haven't had the same amount of time for anything geeky. If it weren't for my weekend autoduels with my boys, I'd swear it was true.

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Posted by Vulcan Stev on January 8, 2008 at 3:34pm — 6 Comments

Robert Frost, Carcosian

Desert Places

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it—it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs,
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is, that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be l… Continue

Posted by Cameron Goble on January 7, 2008 at 10:16pm — 2 Comments

It's Amazing how much fun something is when it's being done as a group.

Back in October I blogged about the nostalgia I was feeling for my Car Wars collection. I was successful at finding everything CW related that I had before it got ruined in a flooded basement. I even managed to acquire some pieces that I never had before.

Anyway, after the stuff arrived in the mail, my boys and I played our first game. The youngest fell in love with it and the teenager declared it "cool". We've played more duels in the past 3 months than I did in all of '86 (the last y…

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Posted by Vulcan Stev on January 5, 2008 at 8:43pm — No Comments

I really hope I like Asimov

I've never read any of his stuff and figured it was about time to try. I've been told that the Foundry books are good.

My gf was headed back to AZ for christmas so I loaded up her suitcase with books I wanted to get rid of. Arizona has a small chain called Bookmans which is pretty great. Their books are half price and they have an exchange credit system set up rather than just giving you cash for your books.

In texas I went to Half Price books, which was also nice, but I don't… Continue

Posted by mrmontie on January 1, 2008 at 4:10pm — 6 Comments

Japanese Erotic Games and me

As some of you know, my major hobby is setting up anime-related events. In connection with this, I spent most of today working on a PowerPoint based multimedia presentation on anime adapted from erotic computer games for a seminar presentation I was asked to do.

This topic is actually a whole lot less racy than it sounds. See, the majority of Japanese "H-games" (games with pornographic content) have only a very tiny fraction of their content that is explicitly sexual, and that is usual…

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Posted by Murat0 on December 29, 2007 at 11:52pm — 4 Comments

Winter disrupts my superpowers

Generally I have a nearly supernatural Sketch detection ability.

I suppose this comes from working middle mgmt positions in retail in questionable neighbourhoods.

At times its honestly like a spider sense thing. Something tingles and I have to make the rounds to discover the source of the disruption.

I will admit that winter in a state that actually has weather throws a kink into my visual sketch identification. Too many baggy excessive coats and hoodies. It was easi… Continue

Posted by mrmontie on December 29, 2007 at 4:50pm — No Comments

First One

Hey, I'm starting a blog. OOOO. EEEEE. Actually, there is some intent to this. This coming year, 2008, will see some big changes coming to my life. Hopefully I'll be retiring! What a concept, eh. So this will help me sort out my thoughts as I go along. Might also rant and rave about things in general.

I run a PBeM game on yahoo.groups set in the Twilight 2000 game world. Post Apocolyptic fantasy. Well, I kind of lived through the days of bomb shelters and nuclear paranoia, so I have as…

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Posted by Big Wave Dave on December 28, 2007 at 7:42pm — No Comments

Holiday plan

tomorrow is set to be a busy day. The unisom I took is finally kicking in. its just after 11. normally i dont go to bed until 2 or 3am. even when i'm getting up at 8 for work the following day.

Get to take the gf to the airport at 5 in the morning. Then drive the 40 minutes back to town for work. 9-3 there. shorter hours for the holiday. then back home to throw my junk in the car and hoof it 9 hours down I 77 to NC for a couple of nights to see parts of my family.

The parts th… Continue

Posted by mrmontie on December 23, 2007 at 9:22pm — 7 Comments

Merry Christmas

May the season (if you celebrate) find you warm in the embrace of family. I'll be off-line until Wednesday.

From me to you. May you find the reason for the season and have a joyous time.

STEVe

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Posted by Vulcan Stev on December 22, 2007 at 2:14pm — 1 Comment

Blogging with Blogger

Due to technical issues on the home front I'll be blogging exclusively with my blogger.com account for a while.

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Posted by S.L. Shirley on December 19, 2007 at 8:29am — No Comments

Best Geek Vacation I Ever Had: Carlsbad Caverns

My girlfriend and I have hankered for a bit of traveling for about a year or so, and Carlsbad Caverns has always been high up on the list. I'm here to report that, as a geek, role player, and boyfriend, a trip to Carlsbad Caverns in the winter time is the best vacation option there is. Hands down. Conventions, guest speakers, and sales tables included.

Now, a few days after we came back, I have some thoughts on why each and every one of you need to come down to New Mexico and explore th… Continue

Posted by Cameron Goble on December 18, 2007 at 6:58pm — 2 Comments

What am I doing for Christmas?

We are not traveling due to high gas prices. We are not opening lots of presents due to the fact that our home uses heating oil. We are spending the day together as a family. I'm making pickups for the redemption center on Christmas Eve early in the day. Then we'll have supper, sleep in (yeah right), open what few gifts we do have and then play Pirates and Car Wars (what could be more festive?)

I've been working on a bunch of stuff for Car Wars check out…

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Posted by Vulcan Stev on December 18, 2007 at 12:12pm — 3 Comments

Done and Done

Elementary Statistics: C

General Psychology: B

Introduction to Computers: A

What does this all mean?

Well, counting on my calculations to be correct, and pending the completion a few reams of paperwork by February 4, I should have a brand-new, shiny Bachelor of Arts degree by May or so.

Only about 17 years late...
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Posted by Hank Harwell on December 11, 2007 at 7:12pm — 10 Comments

Episode Seven: Our hero runs amok!

I've got to get this out of my head for feed back.

I'm dialing back the FX for the PotSM game I've been rattling on about... Well, the mystical FX.

I've got this crazy Martians Invade idea that's taking my brain in the direction of Verne and Wells.

My martians will be sort of like Marvel's Skrull with lots of steampunk-ish tech. Earth has a lot of catching up to do!

So, rather than the fantasy route, now I'm thinking more pulp sci-fi.

What do you lot think?…

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Posted by S.L. Shirley on December 10, 2007 at 1:29pm — 8 Comments

Friends Only Post (FOP)

fyi
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Posted by Berin Kinsman on December 7, 2007 at 11:13pm — No Comments

Giant sign needed: PLAN AHEAD

My job needs such a sign.

Its not my fault nor is it my problem that you need something in less time than it takes to ship.

Its not my fault nor is it my problem that a shipping company did not hold up its end of the bargain.

Its not my fault nor is it my problem that the world does not operate based on your unreasonable expectations.

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Posted by mrmontie on December 7, 2007 at 10:54pm — 2 Comments

Things are calming down

Due in part to the 2" of snow and 3/4" of ice covering everything. One of the new accounts that I picked up paid the entire building payment last month. Hoping to have some time to work on my stuff. (Pirate scenario, The Coat of Arms, some stuff for Car Wars, etc.)

If anybody wants some snow let me know, we've got more coming on Saturday.

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Posted by Vulcan Stev on December 7, 2007 at 3:40pm — 5 Comments

Paizo -- I Have to Wonder

I still haven't received the stuff I ordered from Paizo for the Green Ronin sale (it's been 19 "actual" days, 14 business days), so I went to their site. My order status is still "pending".

Okay, I'm not really complaining because I have no basis for complaint. I got close to $100 worth of stuff for $15 and change, including shipping. They state flat out to allow 9 to 16 business days for processing the order and up to 10 business days after that for shipping.

Let's break tha… Continue

Posted by Berin Kinsman on December 6, 2007 at 6:49pm — 2 Comments

Revisiting the COPS theme

i know this is OT for this forum, but oh well.

We did recently touch on COPS as a show. For all of the bad things that can be associated, I do have to say that there are the occasional calls that are just classic. And i'd gladly buy a best of DVD if i could choose the calls that go on it.

examples of the greatness:

Escaped cow roundup

Bubba and the western hat

Crazy parrot lady that lived down the street from my friend in Albq. (multiple episodes)… Continue

Posted by mrmontie on December 5, 2007 at 5:38pm — 6 Comments

Insurance is like Roleplaying

It's all about rules and numbers
A policy is like a character sheet; it tels you what you can do, and how well you can do it ("I'm sorry, you don't have collision! All damages are out of pocket!")
Coverages and deductibles are like armor and hit points. Except damage to other people comes off of you ("You hit him for $25,000 damages! Your coverage is $50,000, so not out of pocket! But there's a $500 deductible!")
It's a point-buy system; your coverages are bas

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Posted by Berin Kinsman on December 5, 2007 at 6:47am — 8 Comments

how much do spoilers matter to you?

The ability to foresee plot twists and whatnot might be a geek thing. or maybe its a movie buff thing. combination of the two? something else entirely?

I've seen trailers and figured out the entire movie from beginning to end. i'm sure the formulaic nature of many movies has a bit to do with it. Suspense who is the real killer movies are the worst as i've looked at a cast list and known. or when you hear the killer's voice during the trailer and arent supposed to know its carey elwes. I… Continue

Posted by mrmontie on December 4, 2007 at 6:24pm — 14 Comments

Clones make for the best critics

I've long wanted to have a few clones around, Multiplicity style.

Not necessarily for any sort of world domination scheme. Not to turn into some sort of labor force that keeps me out of a place of work, the kitchen, or laundry room.

What I want clones for is something much more simple and down to earth. I want them to be around to save me a bit of time and money as I go through the daily/weekly/monthly ritual.

My problem with critics is that somewhere along the way mo… Continue

Posted by mrmontie on December 4, 2007 at 4:19pm — 3 Comments

PerNoWriMo '07

You know those battalions of NaNoWriMoneers charging for the finish line? Including the illustrious Kenneth Newquist, who just clocked it at over 53K? And how I haven't clocked in ... well ... anything?

Given our past… Continue

Posted by Cameron Goble on December 1, 2007 at 12:09am — 5 Comments

Done, done and DONE.

I finished the novel this morning. 53,791 words. 190 pages in Word.

*wipes brow*

I can safely say that's one of the toughest things I've ever done. The book may not be brilliant (though I like to think it has some fairly inspired bits in it) but the first draft is finished. Time to kick back with some friends, some dice, and a much deserved beer.
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Posted by Kenneth Newquist on November 30, 2007 at 9:16am — 7 Comments

Travelling again...

I have absolutely no idea if this is news to you guys but Mongoose have put up their annual 'State of the Mongoose' address on their open fora.

It's all interesting stuff but one thing that caught my eye was news of the rerelease of Traveller - 'ho hum' I thought, 'another half-hearted D20 tie in' - yawn.

Couldn't have been more wrong folks. It seems Mongoose have gone straight back to the original books and the Third Imperium - yay! They are not using D20 - yay! And they are up…

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Posted by matholwch on November 30, 2007 at 12:56am — 10 Comments

Apologies, Sort Of

I've been in the new job for three days and I feel like I've been there for three weeks. In a good way, mind you. But between the commute, the limited internet access at work, being home with the wife in the evening, and the mental toll class is taking on me (again, in a good way -- I need to get 85% average on all of my tests and quizzes, plus 85% on my final exam, to pass the course and keep my job, and we can't, like remove the materials from the classroom to bring them home to study because… Continue

Posted by Berin Kinsman on November 28, 2007 at 8:41pm — 5 Comments

OK the panic has begun... [rant warning]

Well chaps, and former-colonists ;) , the pre-4th edition panic has officially begun.

I was over browsing at Paizo.com when I noticed that all of Green Ronin's OGL/D20 line had gone on sale, and when I say 'on sale' I mean 'ON SALE'.

Hardbacks are $5 and softbacks are $2! it would cost me more in shipping t the UK than to buy the entire Freeport range.

I wonder how long it will be before every OGL/D20 publisher is marking its entire range down into the clearance bucket?…

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Posted by matholwch on November 27, 2007 at 1:27am — 14 Comments

Nukehammer 41K

Work on the novel continues. I hit 41,000 words over the weekend; I remain slightly off the pace, but the kids won't be around tonight so I'm hoping for another 2000-3000 word day today. My goal right now is to bring everything together in a book-like fashion that I can then go back and flesh out later; I want to make sure I've got all my ideas down, and then circle back around if necessary.

And you know it'll be necessary.

Everything's still on hiatus at Nuketown, and will be… Continue

Posted by Kenneth Newquist on November 26, 2007 at 5:32am — 3 Comments

Current Reality

This is being cross-posted to all sites where I maintain a web presence, as well as via email to a few friends who aren't into social networks. I figure I'll do this about once a month to keep everyone abreast of the state of my universe. I'll be in training at the new job for the next seven weeks. Between the longer commute, the lack of internet access in the office, and the greater overlap with my wife's schedule, I'll be online a lot less and posting to blogs and forums less frequently. This… Continue

Posted by Berin Kinsman on November 24, 2007 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Shakabuku's Dead

Started trying to clean it up, decided to just kill it. Too much work.

Still debating where to put a "personal" blog. I like keeping UncleBear roleplaying-only, and even though I've been using this space at the Cafe for personal stuff, it still doesn't feel like the right space.
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Posted by Berin Kinsman on November 24, 2007 at 11:57am — 7 Comments

My Ultimate MMORPG, Part II: Starting with the Ultimate Weapon

I don't play MMORPGs because I find them repetitive and dull. I would *like* to play one though because so many of my friends do and it's nice to do things with friends, especially the ones who live far away who I can't see in person.

In this series of blog posts, I'll muse over what kinds of MMORPGs could really get my attention. You can read the first entry here.

--------------------------… Continue

Posted by Cameron Goble on November 24, 2007 at 9:50am — 3 Comments

Endings, New Beginnings

Today's the last day at the old job. Well, technically, tonight; I'm scheduled until midnight. Four years gone.

The new job starts Monday. I'm finally starting to get a little anxious about it, in a good way. It will probably take some adjustment to get used to a regular schedule. I expect that I'll have less time to write, blog and web-surf until I'm out of training. But a regular sleep cycle will be soooo worth it.

Shakabuku.ning.com is still down due to vandalism, an… Continue

Posted by Berin Kinsman on November 21, 2007 at 12:37pm — 6 Comments

My Ultimate MMORPG, Part I: BSG, Community, and Storylines

I don't play MMORPGs because I find them repetitive and dull. I would *like* to play one though because so many of my friends do and it's nice to do things with friends, especially the ones who live far away who I can't see in person.

In this series of blog posts, I'll muse over what kinds of MMORPGs could really get my attention.

------------------------------------------

I want to play the Battlestar Galactica MMORPG. I don't know if there is one in the works or not… Continue

Posted by Cameron Goble on November 20, 2007 at 11:44am — 12 Comments

The View from Here

I hit 25,000 words yesterday. 25,396 actually. I've probably written a million words since I started college, but this is the most I've written as part of a single project.

My previous longest effort -- yet another aborted novel -- was probably 5,000 words. Getting this far is an interesting sensation; there's this sort of perpetual amazement that the project has gotten this far. Never mind if it's any good or that I have another 25,000 to go or that I'm behind on my word count ... j… Continue

Posted by Kenneth Newquist on November 20, 2007 at 8:28am — 3 Comments

My Young Apprentice

As the family was getting ready for bed one night, my four-year old son said:

“I’m going to make my own comic book and stories. The hero will be… JET-PACK MAN! And his enemy will be … DR. SNAKE!”

Brimming with inspiration and armed with crayons and paper, my son then proceeded to draw a portrait of Jet-Pack Man! Yes, the exclamation point is required. After all, he is a super-hero of SCIE…

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Posted by Bill V on November 16, 2007 at 3:07pm — 7 Comments

Free Techno-Rave Suggestions?

As per usual, I'm scrambling to throw together my Mutants & Masterminds campaign for the night. The adventure notes are done: the villains Rant and Rave are going to get into a blow-out fight with some super-powered high schoolers at a warehouse rave in Freedom City's Greenbank district. I could really use some music to go with it, but alas, techno isn't really my thing. Anyone have any suggestions for free tracks (or where I could find some free tracks) to accompany this particular battle? Continue

Posted by Kenneth Newquist on November 16, 2007 at 11:39am — 6 Comments

Privateers and Steam: Thinking Aloud Six

The Bear's recent post about his own PotSM campaign in planning (Brimstone and Gall) got me thinking. I've focused on the pre-gens I want to write up and haven't given a lot of thought to the bigger picture. I think I'll stick a little closer to the vibe of Pirates of the Caribbean. Not so much England as the Big Bad, but some evil proto-corp in the form of a monolthic trading company with it's hands in everything. Good counter point to the Nemo's of…

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Posted by S.L. Shirley on November 15, 2007 at 6:01pm — 7 Comments

Privateers and Steam: Thinking Aloud Five

I'm going to write these up over the Thanksgiving Break. Possibly while I sit on my thumbs at work early in the week.

Norville "Wyrdbeard" Rogers: Orphan Shipwright. Has a way with animals of all kinds. Employee of the Blake family.

Lord Herman Jones "H.J." Friedrich: His father squandered the family fortune on gambling and whores after the untimely death of the Mrs. Friedrich. Herman will have some naval rank and experience to be determined... Frequent guest… Continue

Posted by S.L. Shirley on November 14, 2007 at 3:08pm — 12 Comments

Last day set....

Saturday November 24th is the last day that my afternoons will be unsettled.

I had bee

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Blog Posts Across The Dire Cafe