Monday, November 26, 2007
Imperium Map
I created a space map of the Imperium. I wrote about it in my November game diary (11/26), but I wanted to post an image of it here (or at least a version of it). This image is much smaller than the original, and I had to save it as a jpeg to display it on the blog. In short, it looks better than this. ;-)
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Game Diary Summary - October
10/1/2007
I'm basically done with the combat section of starships. I need to add the drones and a few other things and then I'll be done with the starships chapter. Over the weekend, I also worked some more on the abilities to reformat them and reorganize. Last week, I did some of art work for the game, including new design for the Tshirts. I got one in the mail and it looks pretty good.
Before I start on the next chapter, I'd like to go back and tidy up some loose ends in some of the previous chapters. The next chapter, btw, will be about creating planets and star systems, as well as info on interstellar trade.
10/2/2007
Last night I finished reorganizing the majority of psionic abilities. I just need to go back and redo the prerequisites for each. I would also like to add some additional starship related abilities.
10/3/2007
I worked some more on psionic abilities, and reviewed some notes for the next chapter on planet creation. I had dinner with my sister who's been studying graphic arts. I've looked at her work and I've been impressed. I suggested that she do the cover of the rule book and she seemed interested.
10/4/2007
I continued research on the planets chapter, specifically star system creation. I don't want it too complex but I also want to keep it believable.
My sister sent me a draft image to look at. It looks pretty good.
10/5/2007
I've been thinking about the planet stats. I'm using a system similar to Traveller, namely the UWP (Universal World Profile), except with different stats. For example, I'm not having a government value and I'm going to have three additional stats: Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Industry. These last three will impact the kinds of products that will be available or needed for trade. I'm also thinking about adding a Wealth index as well, again as an impact on trade.
10/8/2007
While i was lying in bed Friday night, I thought of some prose for the beginning of the Planet chapter. However, since I didn't write it down, I'm not quite sure I'll be able to write it down now. :-( Such are the perils of the creative process.
10/9/2007
I worked on that prose yesterday and I think it's done (after several drafts). I also went through my To Do List and completed some of the items there.
I've written nearly 20 new starship related abilities, although I still need to add them to the rules.
10/10/2007
Last night I added the new abilities to the rules.
This evening, I added the last three ships to the starships chapter. I still have a little bit more to do with that chapter before I'm done (finally) with it.
10/11/2007
I've decided to go ahead and add the government as one of the planet stats. Although the Imperium is the main government, each planet can have a local govt so i need to reflect that in the stats. I'm also using the stats differently than how Traveller used it. I'm really using the "UWP" as a snapshot of a system, which is why I'm calling it the System Profile instead of UWP. It's only supposed to give some very basic stats which the GM would then flesh out with individual descriptions for each system and the planets therein.
10/15/2007
Over the weekend I added drones to the starship examples and also added the descriptions for the last three ships i added on 10/10.
10/16/2007
I have this week off, so today I've been sitting at my desk working on the star system data. Again, I'm trying to make it playable but still believable. I've been having some hair pulling moments, but I'm slowly slugging it out.
10/17/2007
Thunderstorms have kept me off the computer much of today, but I did manage to add some stuff for the planet chapter. It's actually text I wrote more than a year ago during a previous attempt at writing these rules. However, now that I add this to the rules, I see how much my writing has degraded over the years. Maybe I'm just in a lull but it seems like my ability to write has gone down hill as I've gotten older. They say that the 30s are the peek of a person's cognitive abilities, but I'm already at the end of that time, pushing 40. :-(
10/18/2007
I looked at what I had put in yesterday (from my young days) and didn't like it. ;-) So, I mostly redid it and made it more readable and less dry. I think I'm happier with what I did today (which is good)!
10/19/2007
Today I worked more on the calculations for stars and their respective orbits. I made a few changes, but I'd like to do a little more experimentation. Of course, it would help if I didn't suck at math. Grrrr.
10/23/2007
After a week vacation, I'm back to my day job. This means I only have time to work on the game in the evening, if I'm not too tired to think. ;-)
10/26/2007 I was able to work a little on the rules this week, but not a lot. I started getting into the star system creation part, but that's about it.
10/29/2007
Although I had some frustrations on Saturday, I was still able to get work done. On Sunday, I had no such problems and got a lot done. All in all, I've completed the star sections of the system construction rules. I still need to get down to the more detailed planet rules.
Couple of things: I think I'll rename Chapter 9 to Star Systems instead of Planets since that better describes what's included. Also, I've been looking at the index for the game and I really think I need to add more creatures to Chapter 6. There just doesn't seem like very many there, although I had thought I'd release an expansion later with more creatures . . .
10/30/2007
I put an updated post on the Pen&Paper forums yesterday, just to show that I'm still working on the game, etc. The previous post was way back in March, which surprised me. It's amazing how fast these past months have gone by.
For the system creation rules, and the rules for creating each planet, I've attempted to make sure things are in a logical progression. In other words, stats found in Step A will modify what's in Step B, etc. That may sound obvious, but I've seen some rules elsewhere that jumps around a lot, which can be very confusing in a complex process.
I'm basically done with the combat section of starships. I need to add the drones and a few other things and then I'll be done with the starships chapter. Over the weekend, I also worked some more on the abilities to reformat them and reorganize. Last week, I did some of art work for the game, including new design for the Tshirts. I got one in the mail and it looks pretty good.
Before I start on the next chapter, I'd like to go back and tidy up some loose ends in some of the previous chapters. The next chapter, btw, will be about creating planets and star systems, as well as info on interstellar trade.
10/2/2007
Last night I finished reorganizing the majority of psionic abilities. I just need to go back and redo the prerequisites for each. I would also like to add some additional starship related abilities.
10/3/2007
I worked some more on psionic abilities, and reviewed some notes for the next chapter on planet creation. I had dinner with my sister who's been studying graphic arts. I've looked at her work and I've been impressed. I suggested that she do the cover of the rule book and she seemed interested.
10/4/2007
I continued research on the planets chapter, specifically star system creation. I don't want it too complex but I also want to keep it believable.
My sister sent me a draft image to look at. It looks pretty good.
10/5/2007
I've been thinking about the planet stats. I'm using a system similar to Traveller, namely the UWP (Universal World Profile), except with different stats. For example, I'm not having a government value and I'm going to have three additional stats: Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Industry. These last three will impact the kinds of products that will be available or needed for trade. I'm also thinking about adding a Wealth index as well, again as an impact on trade.
10/8/2007
While i was lying in bed Friday night, I thought of some prose for the beginning of the Planet chapter. However, since I didn't write it down, I'm not quite sure I'll be able to write it down now. :-( Such are the perils of the creative process.
10/9/2007
I worked on that prose yesterday and I think it's done (after several drafts). I also went through my To Do List and completed some of the items there.
I've written nearly 20 new starship related abilities, although I still need to add them to the rules.
10/10/2007
Last night I added the new abilities to the rules.
This evening, I added the last three ships to the starships chapter. I still have a little bit more to do with that chapter before I'm done (finally) with it.
10/11/2007
I've decided to go ahead and add the government as one of the planet stats. Although the Imperium is the main government, each planet can have a local govt so i need to reflect that in the stats. I'm also using the stats differently than how Traveller used it. I'm really using the "UWP" as a snapshot of a system, which is why I'm calling it the System Profile instead of UWP. It's only supposed to give some very basic stats which the GM would then flesh out with individual descriptions for each system and the planets therein.
10/15/2007
Over the weekend I added drones to the starship examples and also added the descriptions for the last three ships i added on 10/10.
10/16/2007
I have this week off, so today I've been sitting at my desk working on the star system data. Again, I'm trying to make it playable but still believable. I've been having some hair pulling moments, but I'm slowly slugging it out.
10/17/2007
Thunderstorms have kept me off the computer much of today, but I did manage to add some stuff for the planet chapter. It's actually text I wrote more than a year ago during a previous attempt at writing these rules. However, now that I add this to the rules, I see how much my writing has degraded over the years. Maybe I'm just in a lull but it seems like my ability to write has gone down hill as I've gotten older. They say that the 30s are the peek of a person's cognitive abilities, but I'm already at the end of that time, pushing 40. :-(
10/18/2007
I looked at what I had put in yesterday (from my young days) and didn't like it. ;-) So, I mostly redid it and made it more readable and less dry. I think I'm happier with what I did today (which is good)!
10/19/2007
Today I worked more on the calculations for stars and their respective orbits. I made a few changes, but I'd like to do a little more experimentation. Of course, it would help if I didn't suck at math. Grrrr.
10/23/2007
After a week vacation, I'm back to my day job. This means I only have time to work on the game in the evening, if I'm not too tired to think. ;-)
10/26/2007 I was able to work a little on the rules this week, but not a lot. I started getting into the star system creation part, but that's about it.
10/29/2007
Although I had some frustrations on Saturday, I was still able to get work done. On Sunday, I had no such problems and got a lot done. All in all, I've completed the star sections of the system construction rules. I still need to get down to the more detailed planet rules.
Couple of things: I think I'll rename Chapter 9 to Star Systems instead of Planets since that better describes what's included. Also, I've been looking at the index for the game and I really think I need to add more creatures to Chapter 6. There just doesn't seem like very many there, although I had thought I'd release an expansion later with more creatures . . .
10/30/2007
I put an updated post on the Pen&Paper forums yesterday, just to show that I'm still working on the game, etc. The previous post was way back in March, which surprised me. It's amazing how fast these past months have gone by.
For the system creation rules, and the rules for creating each planet, I've attempted to make sure things are in a logical progression. In other words, stats found in Step A will modify what's in Step B, etc. That may sound obvious, but I've seen some rules elsewhere that jumps around a lot, which can be very confusing in a complex process.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Chapter Prose
I've been adding some short prose at the beginning of each chapter in my game rules, to add some flavor so to speak. I'm not sure which chapter it will go with, but here is one of the prose pieces I wrote:
High in the Palatine Mountains, the walls of a monastery protruded from the jagged crags of granite and shale. Within these walls, Dahl monks walked along the stone floors, exchanging telepathic greetings as they passed in the candle-lit halls. They had studied the art of mind magic for centuries in the sanctuary of the mountain cliffs, isolated from the rest of Aldorus. On one occasion, however, a man braved the treacherous ravines until he reached the weather-beaten entrance. He knocked on the wooden door. Slowly, the door opened a crack and the pale face of a Dahl peered out. "I've come to learn the secrets of psionics!" the man said proudly. The Dahl looked at the man up and down. "No Humans allowed!" he said and slammed the door in the man's face. The Human, his dreams of learning mind magic gone, plotted his revenge . . .
High in the Palatine Mountains, the walls of a monastery protruded from the jagged crags of granite and shale. Within these walls, Dahl monks walked along the stone floors, exchanging telepathic greetings as they passed in the candle-lit halls. They had studied the art of mind magic for centuries in the sanctuary of the mountain cliffs, isolated from the rest of Aldorus. On one occasion, however, a man braved the treacherous ravines until he reached the weather-beaten entrance. He knocked on the wooden door. Slowly, the door opened a crack and the pale face of a Dahl peered out. "I've come to learn the secrets of psionics!" the man said proudly. The Dahl looked at the man up and down. "No Humans allowed!" he said and slammed the door in the man's face. The Human, his dreams of learning mind magic gone, plotted his revenge . . .
Monday, October 01, 2007
Game Diary Summary - September
9/4/2007
I was out of town much of the Labor Day weekend, but yesterday I was able to complete the remaining three warships and add them to the rules. I still have maybe 3 more ships to do but at least that's almost done. I still need to write the combat rules, but at least that will be fairly straightforward (I hope).
I've added three new ships: Rogue Smuggler, Daemon Raider, and a Shuttle. I've also redone the accomodations again (ie: how many additional passangers can be carried). Increased it to be more playable, but sacrificed realism some what.
9/7/2007
I added starships to the wiki. I also reviewed and updated the stuff for starship combat that I had already written previously. I'm hoping to add that to the rules this weekend and then continue on with that section. Also, I added software info into the notes which i also need to add to the rules.
9/10/2007
I added what I had done with combat to the rules, but when I tried to do more, I got frustrated and stuck: I hadn't been specific enough with my notes. I wasn't happy about it and kinda stressed. I also worked on redoing the game stuff on the website: i want to focus the site more on the game now instead of my graphic stories. However, I'm still deciding how to do that.
I went back over the combat section and redid a little bit to make it flow better and make more sense. I still have more to go though. ;-)
9/14/2007
I've been very busy at my day job this week (and probably this weekend) so I haven't done much on the game.
9/17/2007
Worked overtime all weekend (for my day job). However, I did manage to redo the front page and the game page for the website. Looks "better" now I hope.
9/20/2007
This week i've been working more long hours but that should be over now (I hope) so I can return to working on the game this weekend.
9/24/2007
After over a week of not being able to work on the rules (due to my day job schedule), I was able to make good progress over the weekend. I finished the section on unguided (direct) weapons and get a good chunk of the guided weapons section done. The guided weapons are fairly complicated to implement so I need to be careful I explain it clearly.
I was out of town much of the Labor Day weekend, but yesterday I was able to complete the remaining three warships and add them to the rules. I still have maybe 3 more ships to do but at least that's almost done. I still need to write the combat rules, but at least that will be fairly straightforward (I hope).
I've added three new ships: Rogue Smuggler, Daemon Raider, and a Shuttle. I've also redone the accomodations again (ie: how many additional passangers can be carried). Increased it to be more playable, but sacrificed realism some what.
9/7/2007
I added starships to the wiki. I also reviewed and updated the stuff for starship combat that I had already written previously. I'm hoping to add that to the rules this weekend and then continue on with that section. Also, I added software info into the notes which i also need to add to the rules.
9/10/2007
I added what I had done with combat to the rules, but when I tried to do more, I got frustrated and stuck: I hadn't been specific enough with my notes. I wasn't happy about it and kinda stressed. I also worked on redoing the game stuff on the website: i want to focus the site more on the game now instead of my graphic stories. However, I'm still deciding how to do that.
I went back over the combat section and redid a little bit to make it flow better and make more sense. I still have more to go though. ;-)
9/14/2007
I've been very busy at my day job this week (and probably this weekend) so I haven't done much on the game.
9/17/2007
Worked overtime all weekend (for my day job). However, I did manage to redo the front page and the game page for the website. Looks "better" now I hope.
9/20/2007
This week i've been working more long hours but that should be over now (I hope) so I can return to working on the game this weekend.
9/24/2007
After over a week of not being able to work on the rules (due to my day job schedule), I was able to make good progress over the weekend. I finished the section on unguided (direct) weapons and get a good chunk of the guided weapons section done. The guided weapons are fairly complicated to implement so I need to be careful I explain it clearly.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Game Diary Summary - August
8/3/2007
I hadn't worked on the game for a few days but last night i was able to add the weapons and missile tables. I've decided to slightly change how missiles work by adding a Tracking value. Basically, once the enemy is found using radar, the missile operator has to maintain a lock by rolling the Track number. I can also add abilities that will give bonuses to the roll.
8/6/2007
I was out of town most of the weekend, but I managed to create two new tables (shields and armor) last night. Now that I've added the "tracking" value for missiles and radar, I thought about changing the radar table to include more types; however, i may leave it be for now and add those later if deemed necessary. I'm very much aware of all the time this is taking and all that's left to do.
I wrote some prose to go at the beginning of the starships chapter. It relates to the Prologue of the Alexander the Prince story. I'd like to add prose to the beginning of each chapter: this is pretty standard on many roleplaying games.
8/7/2007
After adding the Tracking stat, i need to clarify it since you need to use separate track both radar guided and heat seeking missiles. It's not hard, but I need to make sure I don't miss something.
8/8/2007
I'm trying to rework the radar/heat signature and how all that works with missiles. I want to reduce complexity but maintain variety.
8/10/2007
I completed all the charts for starship construction except software. I still need to go through and recheck everything but I should be able to work on the Examples section this weekend if i have time.
8/13/2007
I worked some on starship software: it's a little different than robot software since starships don't have skills. Basically, starship software will simply be various "abilities" to improve component functions: for example, increase targeting or radar range, etc.
8/14/2007
Started work on the starship examples section; trying to organize how the stats will be shown. Also, the examples themselves will be organized in groups: civilian, military, pirate, and drones
8/15/2007
For examples, starships need to have their stats displayed, but I'm not happy with anything I've come up with. It needs to look organized and logical, but easy to find the info you need. Also, I need to create more starships to fill out the different sections (see previous post).
I didn't include anything on crew and accomodations (other than the minimum crew), so now I'm totally lost about what to do if the designer wants additional people on the ship (ie: staterooms). If i use slots, you really don't get very many staterooms unless i make them small slots and that doesn't make sense.
Okay, I came up with something but it's not idea: basically, you can use medium slots which act as a multiplier of the min. crew number, based on whether the accomodations are cramped, standard, or luxurious. Hopefully this will work.
8/20/2007
Over the weekend I finalized how I'm going to show the stats for each starship and I also created another freighter. I noticed, however, that I need to look at the STL again: basically the premise of having only a STL engine instead of a FTL engine is size and fuel requirements. Right now I don't think there's enough reason to pick a STL over FTL.
8/21/2007
I've three ships to the rules including stats. It's actually kind of time consuming to add the info from my spread sheet into the game, but I'm plugging away at it. I've also written descriptions for some of the ships. Speaking of which, for some of the ship names, I think I'll need to change them. I had used some standard animals names, but I think it would be more immersive if I create made-up names and then describe what they mean. In other words, name them after an animal and describe that animal.
8/22/2007
I renamed several ships: I used the original names and then looked for foreign (non-English) words that related to the original. Then I wrote prose describing the "animal". For example, one ship was called the Albatross so I did a search on the word float. I found the Japanese word Kassou and wrote the following description: "The Kassou is a flying reptile with a wingspan of nearly 3 meters. It glides along pockets of hot air raising above the Devil's Oven region of Aldorus and, except for mating and laying eggs, spends its entire life airborne." I tacked that prose to the end of the ship's description to give it more depth.
Also yesterday, I added three more ship stats to the rules.
8/23/2007
I created descriptions for all the of the ships I currently have complete.
8/27/2007
I created a new cruiser (Duchess Class), but I have two concerns: the cruiser only had essentially one additional weapon compared to a destroyer which is quite a bit smaller (although the cruiser also had a drone bay). This leads me to my other concern: I think the larger ships have too many hit points, which combined with not having that many more weapons, will cause combat to take forever. I'm thinking about combining some of the smaller sizes (having two hulls instead of four) so that I can have a smaller increase in hit points. I need to do some combat testing first before I'll really know for sure.
Btw, the Duchess Class raised a design issue: is it better to have a ship with more fixed weapons (which are smaller) or fewer turreted weapons (which take up more space)?
8/28/2007
Yesterday I created three more warships including the Overlord Class Juggernaut (the ship Tagus III had in my graphic novel).
I'm redoing some of the weapons to include larger ones for big ships. This means, however, that I'll need to go back and see which of my pre-existing ships are impacted or not. I still need to revisit the hit points issue as well.
Okay, for V. Small, Small, and Medium, I've cut the number of hulls from four to two. I've also reduced the Hit Points for Hulls Large, V. Large, and Huge. With the new weapons, I think the hit points are more sane now. We'll see during testing.
8/30/2007
Yesterday I redid the weapons on the ships to reflect the new heavy weapon sizes. I'm also working on the missiles table to reflect anti-missile attacks.
8/31/2007
Last night I updated the rules and tables for the missile and weapon changes.
I hadn't worked on the game for a few days but last night i was able to add the weapons and missile tables. I've decided to slightly change how missiles work by adding a Tracking value. Basically, once the enemy is found using radar, the missile operator has to maintain a lock by rolling the Track number. I can also add abilities that will give bonuses to the roll.
8/6/2007
I was out of town most of the weekend, but I managed to create two new tables (shields and armor) last night. Now that I've added the "tracking" value for missiles and radar, I thought about changing the radar table to include more types; however, i may leave it be for now and add those later if deemed necessary. I'm very much aware of all the time this is taking and all that's left to do.
I wrote some prose to go at the beginning of the starships chapter. It relates to the Prologue of the Alexander the Prince story. I'd like to add prose to the beginning of each chapter: this is pretty standard on many roleplaying games.
8/7/2007
After adding the Tracking stat, i need to clarify it since you need to use separate track both radar guided and heat seeking missiles. It's not hard, but I need to make sure I don't miss something.
8/8/2007
I'm trying to rework the radar/heat signature and how all that works with missiles. I want to reduce complexity but maintain variety.
8/10/2007
I completed all the charts for starship construction except software. I still need to go through and recheck everything but I should be able to work on the Examples section this weekend if i have time.
8/13/2007
I worked some on starship software: it's a little different than robot software since starships don't have skills. Basically, starship software will simply be various "abilities" to improve component functions: for example, increase targeting or radar range, etc.
8/14/2007
Started work on the starship examples section; trying to organize how the stats will be shown. Also, the examples themselves will be organized in groups: civilian, military, pirate, and drones
8/15/2007
For examples, starships need to have their stats displayed, but I'm not happy with anything I've come up with. It needs to look organized and logical, but easy to find the info you need. Also, I need to create more starships to fill out the different sections (see previous post).
I didn't include anything on crew and accomodations (other than the minimum crew), so now I'm totally lost about what to do if the designer wants additional people on the ship (ie: staterooms). If i use slots, you really don't get very many staterooms unless i make them small slots and that doesn't make sense.
Okay, I came up with something but it's not idea: basically, you can use medium slots which act as a multiplier of the min. crew number, based on whether the accomodations are cramped, standard, or luxurious. Hopefully this will work.
8/20/2007
Over the weekend I finalized how I'm going to show the stats for each starship and I also created another freighter. I noticed, however, that I need to look at the STL again: basically the premise of having only a STL engine instead of a FTL engine is size and fuel requirements. Right now I don't think there's enough reason to pick a STL over FTL.
8/21/2007
I've three ships to the rules including stats. It's actually kind of time consuming to add the info from my spread sheet into the game, but I'm plugging away at it. I've also written descriptions for some of the ships. Speaking of which, for some of the ship names, I think I'll need to change them. I had used some standard animals names, but I think it would be more immersive if I create made-up names and then describe what they mean. In other words, name them after an animal and describe that animal.
8/22/2007
I renamed several ships: I used the original names and then looked for foreign (non-English) words that related to the original. Then I wrote prose describing the "animal". For example, one ship was called the Albatross so I did a search on the word float. I found the Japanese word Kassou and wrote the following description: "The Kassou is a flying reptile with a wingspan of nearly 3 meters. It glides along pockets of hot air raising above the Devil's Oven region of Aldorus and, except for mating and laying eggs, spends its entire life airborne." I tacked that prose to the end of the ship's description to give it more depth.
Also yesterday, I added three more ship stats to the rules.
8/23/2007
I created descriptions for all the of the ships I currently have complete.
8/27/2007
I created a new cruiser (Duchess Class), but I have two concerns: the cruiser only had essentially one additional weapon compared to a destroyer which is quite a bit smaller (although the cruiser also had a drone bay). This leads me to my other concern: I think the larger ships have too many hit points, which combined with not having that many more weapons, will cause combat to take forever. I'm thinking about combining some of the smaller sizes (having two hulls instead of four) so that I can have a smaller increase in hit points. I need to do some combat testing first before I'll really know for sure.
Btw, the Duchess Class raised a design issue: is it better to have a ship with more fixed weapons (which are smaller) or fewer turreted weapons (which take up more space)?
8/28/2007
Yesterday I created three more warships including the Overlord Class Juggernaut (the ship Tagus III had in my graphic novel).
I'm redoing some of the weapons to include larger ones for big ships. This means, however, that I'll need to go back and see which of my pre-existing ships are impacted or not. I still need to revisit the hit points issue as well.
Okay, for V. Small, Small, and Medium, I've cut the number of hulls from four to two. I've also reduced the Hit Points for Hulls Large, V. Large, and Huge. With the new weapons, I think the hit points are more sane now. We'll see during testing.
8/30/2007
Yesterday I redid the weapons on the ships to reflect the new heavy weapon sizes. I'm also working on the missiles table to reflect anti-missile attacks.
8/31/2007
Last night I updated the rules and tables for the missile and weapon changes.
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