3/30/2007 I've taken some notes on poisons (and will add that to the Gear chapter). I also put in some stubs for some faction member examples. I decided to keep ones that I don't have examples for. However, i decided to remove the Fur Is Murder Bregades. I just didn't feel right about using them.
3/29/2007 Yesterday I put a posting (similar to the one on pen-paper.net) on another game forum (RPGnet). This time, I've gotten a lot more views, so I'm happy about that.
I wrote a few notes about Factions/Reputation, about agendas etc. I had written some notes about NPC motivations, and that got me thinking about how that relates to how factions work. Basically, a faction's agenda dictates its motivations/actions. Also, I'm very interested in the idea that there is no good or evil, just people with conflicting agendas, so I wrote a little about that too.
3/28/2007 Nothing done last night. I'll try again tonight.
3/27/2007 I started a section about NPCs at the end of Chapter 6, but not much else. I looked at the chapters I've done so far and it looks like I have 3-4 more chapters to go. The last chapter may be a sample adventure, or perhaps mission ideas.
3/26/2007 After a slow start, I got a lot done over the weekend. I added descriptions for the different types of Ghul and Jotuns, and then added those to the Wiki. I also added the section on Factions & Reputation, although I'm needing to fine tune that. I also added two new types of elemental resistance: acid and sonic. I wasn't sure about sonic, but it will allow me to add sonic weapons and maybe some creature attacks.
For factions, I will remove some of them and focus on the ones I will have examples for. I want to reduce my workload a little since things are taking a lot of time and I'd like to have a beta draft in another couple of months.
I need to add default racial traits such as Scent for Vogar and Aqute Hearing for the Akiak (and claw attacks).
At the end of the Encounters chapter, I think I'll add a section NonPlayer Characters and Notable NPCs.
3/22/2007 I created an entry for King Rats and put in some stubs for a few of the minor races. I will need to go back and fill those in.
3/21/2007 I added the creatures I have done so far to the wiki. I also took some notes for the Mutant section, identifying some creature ideas.
Over lunch, I had the bright idea of linking the creatures that appear in my stories from the wiki to the page of the story where they appear. For example, I liked the wiki info on the tubby wubbies to the page in Alexander the Prince where they first appear.
3/20/2007 Last night I added the XP information to the first chapter. I also added another creature to Chapter 6. As I was adding another creature, I realized that I wasn't calculating the Def mod correctly (which is impacted by two different tables, not just one). I'm a little concerned that the system I've created for creatures doesn't give enough variety. Not sure what I should do about that.
I would like to start organizing creatures in ranges of levels (ie: XP Level 1-5, 6-10, etc), referring to them as Tiers). I want to make sure that I'm not neglecting one tier over another (so there'll be a good selection of mobs per tier).
3/19/2007 Very good progress over the weekend: entered 8-9 creatures incl. 3 renders. Discovered I haven't yet included info on XP. Not sure how to proceed with that (where to put it).
3/15/2007 I wasn't able to work on the game last night since my eyes were all dilated from an eye appointment. However, I had done some work during the day so it wasn't a total loss. I had created a new creature idea called the Breeder that gives birth to young which it then throws at opponents. The young then attack the opponent. I also wrote some brief notes on the VoidSpawn, giving some background.
Btw, the posting I put on the Pen&Paper forum has gone largely unnoticed and unread. I will have to find other ways to raise awareness.
3/14/2007 I completed the wiki (as far as the current imperium databank stuff goes) and linked it to the main site. Now that I'm hopefully done procrastinating, I can indeed work on the rules.
3/13/2007 Made very good progress last night with Wiki. I'm mostly done with the skin and I created a new logo (based on the old Imperium Online logo). Of course, I need to stop working on the wiki and turn back to working on rules so I have something to actually put IN the wiki. ;-)
3/12/2007 I installed MediaWiki on Friday night. It's going to take me awhile though to see if it's going to work for me. It has its own markup language etc. -- I've taken a look at the markup and it's actually pretty straightforward. I did the About page, using links, etc. and it was pretty easy. ;-)
I didn't get as much done in the rules as I would've liked. However, I did start on the abilities.
I was playing around with the "skin" for wiki. I've made progress so I'm happy with it.
3/9/2007 I posted a message and link about the game on a pen&paper forum (www.pen-paper.net). Don't know if it will increase awareness at all, but I guess it can't hurt.
3/8/2007 I was able to add the rework of attacks to the rules. It seems to look okay. I'm getting close to being able to start on creature examples; over the last several days I've created several sample ideas (although they're not fleshed out yet).
3/7/2007 I was too tired last night to work on the game. Hopefully tonight I'll have better luck.
Today I wrote some notes on the rework of attacks (see previous post). I think it works better so I'm happy with it. I'm thinking about adding so-called Minor races as their own category, perhaps under Factions. For example, some factions might be by minor race while others might be by organization, etc.
3/6/2007 I ran into a roadblock last night working on Attacks. It wasn't comprehensive or universal enough, so I tried to fix it but just got frustrated. Lying in bed, I came up with an idea that I'll try to flesh out today when I have time. Basically, I will split it up into "Attack Type" (Melee/Ranged) and "Weapon Type" (Natural/Manufactured).
3/5/2007 Over the weekend, I got a lot done for the Encounters chapter. I finished the species and then went on to hit dice and a couple of tables. Doesn't sound like much, but it took awhile to get done. However, I'm left with some feelings that it's not good enough. I think I'm just my usual insecurity.
On Friday I started creating some new sample creatures, including two "ironic" ones: the Fire Fox and the MicroSloth. The latter was actually suggested by Jeff, my boss, and then I ran with it (writing the desc etc.). However, I still have several more that I need to write.
The more I think about it, the more I think I'll fold the faction guys into the regular creatures. In other words, instead of having a separate section for playable race "creatures", I'm thinking I'll simply put them with everyone else. Of course, that also opens up whether I should do the same with robots also. Sigh. So many design decisions to make!
3/2/2007 Last night I finished redoing the species, although I still need to do Fungi and Exotic (which I forgot!). Also, I need to add stuff on creature's speed: I plan to divide them by size and speed (slow, average, fast) and by type of locomotion (wings, legs, fins, etc). I won't be going out of town this weekend, so I should hopefully get more stuff done.
On second thought, I decided (for speed) to just go by type of locomotion and speed (v. slow, slow, av, fast, v. fast) to simplify it. GM will need to decide if size of creature matters and incorporate that into the speed.
3/1/2007 Last night I started redoing the species section, but I got chased off the computer by some bad thunderstorms. However, what i did get done wasn't bad.
I mentioned before about adding a wiki to the website. I think I will use that to replace the "databank" pages I currently use. That way, I can use the wiki for both game info and also general Imperium universe info.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Game Diary Summary - February
2/28/2007 I'm debating whether I should indeed include factions&reputation within the encounters chapter or in its own chapter. Since I intend to include the descriptions/stats for various members of these factions, I thought i should include it with encounters, but now i'm not sure that's the best way of organizing these.
2/27/2007 I continued writing the species section of encounters. However, i stopped because i need to redo these, making them more game related instead of sounding like a biology lesson. ;-)
2/26/2007 I had an idea in the shower today: i'm going to regulate attack/defense modifiers based on type of Mob (ie: carnivore, omnivore, herbivore). I created the chart for this; not sure yet whether i like how the numbers pan out.
In the evening I made a good start on Chapter 6: Encounters.
2/25/2007 Did extensive research for encounters: looked at different species types on Wikipedia. Not sure if I will use this or not, but I'd like to. I have to think about to incorporate this.
2/24/2007 Completed scanners and protective gear. Getting ready for next chapter: encounters
2/23/2007 Website page is almost done; Just need to create a couple more images and then publish it hopefully tonight.
2/22/2007 Worked on website last night. Created new image based on the one I did inside the rules (one showing all the races). Main page has the image as a teaser, and if you click on it, the viewer goes to another page with details about what the game will offer. Not done yet though, so I haven't published it to the live site.
2/21/2007 I basically did nothing last night, which makes 3 days in a row. Just too mentally tired. I tried to look at redoing the website, but my original plan won't work so i'll have to rework it somewhat. I've started keeping some of my notes on a Google spread sheet (like this one).
Btw, while i was doing research for vacc suits, I found that firearms can indeed be used in a vacuum. I should add a section into the combat chapter about fighting in vacuum or underwater.
2/20/2007 I wrote up some quick notes for attacks (around 8-10 diff ones so far. Basically, they'll be three kinds: Regular, Special, and Weapons. For defenses, I'm thinking about diff natural armors such as scales, hides, etc.
I'm going to add a new section to my website talking about the RPG. I wrote some notes and within a week or so I'd like to put it online. I have no idea if anyone will care, but at least they'll be some visibility on the site as a "work in progress" so people will know i'm actually working on something. At this point, I don't think the game will be ready at all until Fall 2006.
2/19/2007 "Need to add Visibility rules (and LOS) to Combat chapter. Also, need to complete abilities, esp for Psionics. I wrote the notes on LOS and Visibility.
The next chap will cover encounters (opponents). I'm thinking of having various generic attacks and defenses based on size."
2/17/2007 Completed kits. Added Forgery to skill section.
2/16/2007 I decided not to go into quite the same detail for gen equip (for things like basic equip--rope, binoculars, etc.). Right now I'm going to do the kits/tools for the skills and leave it at that. Also, I'm not going to worry about regular clothes, and just focus on clothes for diff environments
2/15/2007 I completed the vehicle desc and filled in much of the vehicle table. Next I need to go through the skills and see what equip/kits are needed for each and add them in a General Equip section.
2/14/2007 I didn't work last night. Today, however, I wrote some notes about Planet/Moon orbits: planets will be by AU (ie. 0.3, 1.0, 55.0) and moons will be #x10,000km (ie. 52.7 = 527,000km).
2/13/2007 Instead of Clothing, I decided to work on Vehicles next. I made a list of the diff vehicles for reach type (Air, Land, Water) and then started writing the desc. I will need to add Sizes for them akin to the character sizes, to help determine defense mods. I'm thinking I'll need to add vehicle combat to the Combat chapter.
2/12/2007 "Over the weekend, I completed most of the enhancements. Yesterday, I did research on vehicles. I added Medical Science to Skills and Surgery as an Ability. Also, added the Social Class notes into the rules.
I need to do a graphic with some of the weapons."
2/9/2007 "I made good progress on enhancements, completing implants and half of nanos. I struggled with the tables for these, and I'm not happy with what I ended up with. The stats are too generic, so I will need to return to that later. Next I need to do the drug enhancements, although I can use the names from previous drafts.
2/8/2007 "I completed armor last night and now I can turn to enhancements. I should be able to copy in much of the text from previous drafts, although I'll need to fill in more detail/stats. I am still undecide about adding weapon enhancements as well. I might leave it off for now and add it later.
I've been debating whether to add a social class component: basically you pick which of the 3 social classes at the beginning and it impacts your Faction when dealing with other social classes."
2/7/2007 "Last night I redid some of the renders for the diff races. I then spent 2 hours doing a composite of all the races together to show their respective heights. I'm happy with how it turned out. However, I've decided that I need to redo the desc of the Vogar: they currently are called ""friendly"" but the only poser models I have are too viscous looking, so I'm going to change their desc accordingly.
I've been debating whether to add a social class component: basically you pick which of the 3 social classes at the beginning and it impacts your Faction when dealing with other social classes.
2/6/2007 I've been thinking about adding weapons mods (increased accuracy, range, etc). Not sure if I'd add them as part of the weapons section or under enhancements. I thought of adding a section called "Protective Clothing." It would include: Vacc Suit, Vacc Patch, Oxygen tanks, rebreather, cold weather suit, desert ("water") suit.
For the vacc patch, basically, whenever a vacc suit is hit that hit causes a leak that must be patched before a certain # of rounds elapse, otherwise character begins to take damage (DoT)
2/5/2007 Tried to work, but I was too tired in the evening. Couldn't concentrate at all.
2/4/2007 Finished melee weapon desc, and started armor. Realized that I had not included personal force field proficiency as an ability. I will need to remember to add this.
2/3/2007 Finished ranged weapon descriptions for Ch 5: Gear
2/27/2007 I continued writing the species section of encounters. However, i stopped because i need to redo these, making them more game related instead of sounding like a biology lesson. ;-)
2/26/2007 I had an idea in the shower today: i'm going to regulate attack/defense modifiers based on type of Mob (ie: carnivore, omnivore, herbivore). I created the chart for this; not sure yet whether i like how the numbers pan out.
In the evening I made a good start on Chapter 6: Encounters.
2/25/2007 Did extensive research for encounters: looked at different species types on Wikipedia. Not sure if I will use this or not, but I'd like to. I have to think about to incorporate this.
2/24/2007 Completed scanners and protective gear. Getting ready for next chapter: encounters
2/23/2007 Website page is almost done; Just need to create a couple more images and then publish it hopefully tonight.
2/22/2007 Worked on website last night. Created new image based on the one I did inside the rules (one showing all the races). Main page has the image as a teaser, and if you click on it, the viewer goes to another page with details about what the game will offer. Not done yet though, so I haven't published it to the live site.
2/21/2007 I basically did nothing last night, which makes 3 days in a row. Just too mentally tired. I tried to look at redoing the website, but my original plan won't work so i'll have to rework it somewhat. I've started keeping some of my notes on a Google spread sheet (like this one).
Btw, while i was doing research for vacc suits, I found that firearms can indeed be used in a vacuum. I should add a section into the combat chapter about fighting in vacuum or underwater.
2/20/2007 I wrote up some quick notes for attacks (around 8-10 diff ones so far. Basically, they'll be three kinds: Regular, Special, and Weapons. For defenses, I'm thinking about diff natural armors such as scales, hides, etc.
I'm going to add a new section to my website talking about the RPG. I wrote some notes and within a week or so I'd like to put it online. I have no idea if anyone will care, but at least they'll be some visibility on the site as a "work in progress" so people will know i'm actually working on something. At this point, I don't think the game will be ready at all until Fall 2006.
2/19/2007 "Need to add Visibility rules (and LOS) to Combat chapter. Also, need to complete abilities, esp for Psionics. I wrote the notes on LOS and Visibility.
The next chap will cover encounters (opponents). I'm thinking of having various generic attacks and defenses based on size."
2/17/2007 Completed kits. Added Forgery to skill section.
2/16/2007 I decided not to go into quite the same detail for gen equip (for things like basic equip--rope, binoculars, etc.). Right now I'm going to do the kits/tools for the skills and leave it at that. Also, I'm not going to worry about regular clothes, and just focus on clothes for diff environments
2/15/2007 I completed the vehicle desc and filled in much of the vehicle table. Next I need to go through the skills and see what equip/kits are needed for each and add them in a General Equip section.
2/14/2007 I didn't work last night. Today, however, I wrote some notes about Planet/Moon orbits: planets will be by AU (ie. 0.3, 1.0, 55.0) and moons will be #x10,000km (ie. 52.7 = 527,000km).
2/13/2007 Instead of Clothing, I decided to work on Vehicles next. I made a list of the diff vehicles for reach type (Air, Land, Water) and then started writing the desc. I will need to add Sizes for them akin to the character sizes, to help determine defense mods. I'm thinking I'll need to add vehicle combat to the Combat chapter.
2/12/2007 "Over the weekend, I completed most of the enhancements. Yesterday, I did research on vehicles. I added Medical Science to Skills and Surgery as an Ability. Also, added the Social Class notes into the rules.
I need to do a graphic with some of the weapons."
2/9/2007 "I made good progress on enhancements, completing implants and half of nanos. I struggled with the tables for these, and I'm not happy with what I ended up with. The stats are too generic, so I will need to return to that later. Next I need to do the drug enhancements, although I can use the names from previous drafts.
2/8/2007 "I completed armor last night and now I can turn to enhancements. I should be able to copy in much of the text from previous drafts, although I'll need to fill in more detail/stats. I am still undecide about adding weapon enhancements as well. I might leave it off for now and add it later.
I've been debating whether to add a social class component: basically you pick which of the 3 social classes at the beginning and it impacts your Faction when dealing with other social classes."
2/7/2007 "Last night I redid some of the renders for the diff races. I then spent 2 hours doing a composite of all the races together to show their respective heights. I'm happy with how it turned out. However, I've decided that I need to redo the desc of the Vogar: they currently are called ""friendly"" but the only poser models I have are too viscous looking, so I'm going to change their desc accordingly.
I've been debating whether to add a social class component: basically you pick which of the 3 social classes at the beginning and it impacts your Faction when dealing with other social classes.
2/6/2007 I've been thinking about adding weapons mods (increased accuracy, range, etc). Not sure if I'd add them as part of the weapons section or under enhancements. I thought of adding a section called "Protective Clothing." It would include: Vacc Suit, Vacc Patch, Oxygen tanks, rebreather, cold weather suit, desert ("water") suit.
For the vacc patch, basically, whenever a vacc suit is hit that hit causes a leak that must be patched before a certain # of rounds elapse, otherwise character begins to take damage (DoT)
2/5/2007 Tried to work, but I was too tired in the evening. Couldn't concentrate at all.
2/4/2007 Finished melee weapon desc, and started armor. Realized that I had not included personal force field proficiency as an ability. I will need to remember to add this.
2/3/2007 Finished ranged weapon descriptions for Ch 5: Gear
Game Diary - January
1/27/2007 Redid ranged weapons: created more variety. Also decided to include so-called exotic weapons (ie: cryo pistol) with regular weapons instead of having its own section and ability.
1/25/2007 Wrote outline for the diff types of gear, incl. armor, weapons, vehicles, etc.
1/24/2007 Wrote info on diff types of armor.
1/19/2007 Looked at MediaWiki for future use later on. Looked at wikipedia article about D&D Feats - they use a lot of diff types incl ones for creating items etc. Looked at resources re. campaign ideas. I would like to have a supplement called "Missions" imitating the sort of short missions (and story arcs) from MMORPGs
1/25/2007 Wrote outline for the diff types of gear, incl. armor, weapons, vehicles, etc.
1/24/2007 Wrote info on diff types of armor.
1/19/2007 Looked at MediaWiki for future use later on. Looked at wikipedia article about D&D Feats - they use a lot of diff types incl ones for creating items etc. Looked at resources re. campaign ideas. I would like to have a supplement called "Missions" imitating the sort of short missions (and story arcs) from MMORPGs
Thursday, March 22, 2007
The Void Spawn
I thought I’d talk a little about how my fiendish mind works, or at least the creative side:
For the role playing game, I’ve created a minor race called the Void Spawn. They come from the name I gave one of my characters in City of Villains: a cloven-hoofed creature with a skull for a head. So, for my own game, I used the name, but I couldn’t use the image from COV, so I started looking at the www.daz3d.com website for a model I could buy. I decided to use a particular one that looks like a very fierce devil.
At this point, I started to write the back story for the Void Spawn. I took the word “void” and that reminded me of a recent Dr. Who episode where they talked about a place between dimensions called the Void. That reminded me of a Dr. Who adventure I had written back in high school that took place outside of time and space in an area called Absolute Elsewhere. I think I got that concept from an episode of Cosmos with Carl Sagan talking about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity: basically if you image two triangles, the top one is the future and the bottom one is the past. Where the two triangles meet (at the point) is the present. Anything not inside those two triangles is called Absolute Elsewhere; outside time and space. So, I decided that’s where the Void Spawn come from: the Void (or Absolute Elsewhere).
Today, I started thinking about their culture and I went back to the devil model I had decided to use. I thought about devils and how they are associated with Hell, and Hell is associated with pain and suffering. So, the Void Spawn enjoy inflicting pain. Well, what if I went a little farther than that: what if they felt actual pleasure from inflicting and receiving pain? Now, what if they didn’t understand that pain was not pleasurable for other organisms? That’s when it hit me that the Void Spawn actually believe they’re doing people a “service” by torturing them! From their own mindset, pain equals pleasure; and therefore everyone should feel pleasure from pain. They are unable to see things from another point of view.
So, that’s how I came up with the Void Spawn. ;-)
For the role playing game, I’ve created a minor race called the Void Spawn. They come from the name I gave one of my characters in City of Villains: a cloven-hoofed creature with a skull for a head. So, for my own game, I used the name, but I couldn’t use the image from COV, so I started looking at the www.daz3d.com website for a model I could buy. I decided to use a particular one that looks like a very fierce devil.
At this point, I started to write the back story for the Void Spawn. I took the word “void” and that reminded me of a recent Dr. Who episode where they talked about a place between dimensions called the Void. That reminded me of a Dr. Who adventure I had written back in high school that took place outside of time and space in an area called Absolute Elsewhere. I think I got that concept from an episode of Cosmos with Carl Sagan talking about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity: basically if you image two triangles, the top one is the future and the bottom one is the past. Where the two triangles meet (at the point) is the present. Anything not inside those two triangles is called Absolute Elsewhere; outside time and space. So, I decided that’s where the Void Spawn come from: the Void (or Absolute Elsewhere).
Today, I started thinking about their culture and I went back to the devil model I had decided to use. I thought about devils and how they are associated with Hell, and Hell is associated with pain and suffering. So, the Void Spawn enjoy inflicting pain. Well, what if I went a little farther than that: what if they felt actual pleasure from inflicting and receiving pain? Now, what if they didn’t understand that pain was not pleasurable for other organisms? That’s when it hit me that the Void Spawn actually believe they’re doing people a “service” by torturing them! From their own mindset, pain equals pleasure; and therefore everyone should feel pleasure from pain. They are unable to see things from another point of view.
So, that’s how I came up with the Void Spawn. ;-)
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Wiki Me!
I’m in the process of migrating the Imperium Database section of the website into an Imperium Wiki. I installed the wiki stuff last Friday night (with some difficulty of course) and I’ve been learning how to use it since then. I even modified the default wiki “skin” to look and behave more like the rest of the website. My intent is to not only include the general Imperium Universe stuff, but also info for the role-playing game I’m currently working on. As for the game, it’s coming along. See my previous post for a link to the ongoing project diary (which I’ve been updating nearly every day).
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