Tuesday 31 August 2010

Update!!! Bank Holiday and then some

So this is brief.

  • Work is great. Have a conference in October at the Wellcome Trust Centre. It's a CCG user group meeting, and I code stuff using the CCG stuff so yay... I get to show off my work and make a poster.....
  • Roleplay is great. Had two excellent sessions so far. Changelings are weird and wonderful and grotesque.
  • Finished Assassin's Creed II and now onto Arkham Asylum.
  • Had an awesome photo shoot with my wife and our excellent friend and photographer Aiko
  • Stayed over in London and watched so classic Lemony Snicket. Good to hang out with Anna and Mark in their curiosity shop and have a laugh with people that have a very similar sense of humour. Imagine my supreeez!

Friday 27 August 2010

Thursday 26 August 2010

Challenge Day 28

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

 


 

Not much has changed other than being a little bit more wiser, have a number of new friends and been to a few other intersting places.

Tuesday 24 August 2010

Robot to pair socks! - Boing Boing

Sonic Adventure ZX - Unknown From M.E 5000

Just funny

Challenge Day 27

Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge

 

I guess just to have something to write and post. Helps me get into the writing mood. Unless you have something going on everyday then life can seem a little boring when really it isn't.

 

Monday 23 August 2010

Friday 20 August 2010

Challenge Day 23

Day 23- Something you crave for a lot

 

Hmmm.... chocolate? Perhaps. I would say right now I crave coffee more than anything.

Thursday 19 August 2010

Challenge Day 22

Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else?

 

I guess it may be that I am a scientist but in some ways I don't fit the stereotypical, socially inept, nerd view people have of scientists. I have been told that it's because I have a dress sense, or that I am just not dog ugly/boring looking. Equally I don't fit the stereotype of gamer types. You know, Comic Guy from the Simpsons. Again I try and lift up my hobby from the pits of nerdom and try and present it as something anyone can enjoy.

 

Anyone have some other opinions on this about me?

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Darren Aronofsky's new movie trailer: a bizarre bird mutation, or just a dream?

Looks awesome, and perhaps some excellent changeling inspiration

Challenge Day 21

Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Challenge Day 20

Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future

 

Ummm.... this question is moot. I see my self with Samantha, my wife, until the day I die. Simple.

Monday 16 August 2010

Challenge Day 17-19

Friday 13 August 2010

Challenge Day 16

Day 16- Another picture of yourself

 


Thursday 12 August 2010

Challenge Day 15

Day 15- Put your iPod/iPhone/MP3 player/Smartphone/Spotify/iTunes/Winamp on shuffle: First 10 songs that play

 

  1. Fundamentally Loathsome - Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals
  2. The Warning - Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
  3. Inauguration of the Mechanical Christ - Marilyn Manson - The Last Tour on Earth
  4. Choke - Nekromantik - Fairy Catcher
  5. The Great Destroyer - Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
  6. God Bless - Combichrist - Everybody Hates You
  7. Mechanical Animals - Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals
  8. Jugular - Angelspit - Blood Death Ivory
  9. Lies - Intra-Venus - Irreverence
  10. Disbehave (Katscan Disco Beaver Mix) - Mechanical Cabaret - Disbehave 

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Getting New Players

 

"If we have it, they will come" - Daisy - Spoofing 'Field of Dreams' - Gatherings - Spaced Series 1

So recently I have been busy working away on my Changeling setting. More importantly writing up NPCs for the game which is due to start soon. I have the first two episodes drafted and the rest of the chronicle outline is ready. But more importantly I have new players.

Some of you who have been reading my own personal blog, or this one, will be aware that my wife is one of my gaming group. She has now had 2 tours of duty in gaming. The first being a few games of Unhallowed Metorpolis. The other being my long chronicle of Vampire: the Requiem. Let's just say she has got into gaming with little issue, enjoying the roleplay aspect over the dice rolling.

Of course getting some new players is tricky. You want to find people that mesh with your gaming style, the types of games you run, and of course as a group will all get along. I have succeeded and failed at recruiting players to a varying degree. This time round I went hunting once more. First to the local wargaming group meetup in town, and then to the pub to meet some mutual friends of a previous player from my group.

The result. 4 new players. Two are fairly young and a couple. One is an avid wargamer of the GW line of games. His girlfriend is also a wargamer. She however has only ever had the experience of playing DnD, while her man has been dying to find a World of Darkness gaming group.

The other two players are also a couple, and work in the computer games industry as artists. Needless to say they have their own history of wargaming and computer games. However neither has roleplayed table top wise.

So a good mix. I have one player who knows the system to the games and others who are just looking for a fun time.

To break the ice we played through the Terrifying Tale of James Magnus, from World of Darkness: Ghost Stories. I had some pre-generated characters for everyone to play. What was a great surprise was how in character they played, and the extra details they added to their characters as the game went on. Characters got spooked, knifed, shot and killed as the ghosts haunted the house. I was utterly impressed by the level of in character gaming I was getting from all the players, especially from those newest to the hobby.

All  in all then a good batch of players who have now provided quite the mix of twisted changeling characters.

 

So some advice with getting new players?

Don't be shy. Be confident. Players tend to flock to storytellers who are confident in their own skills.

Gut Feeling. We may all be gamers but we don't all have to be friends. If you don't think someone will suit your gaming group then don't be afraid of saying no. Just because we are gamers doesn't mean we are friends by default. Your gut feeling is always a good indicator.

Boot Camp. Boot camp the players. Just as you must prove to them you can run the game, they have to prove that they a) can game b) fit your group c) not be social trolls and weird out the other players.

Noobs are Uncut Diamonds.  Yes really. You can find some of the best players in the world in those who haven't played/played that game system.

Social Networks are your friend. Use them to find players, organise players, make the gaming exciting (a written form of trailer to the game perhaps with images attached to inspire). All these things grab the attention of the players. 

 

Challenge Day 14

Day 14- A picture of you and your family

 

From left to right; Sam's aunt Sylvia, my old man Mike, my mother Nicky, me, Sam, Sam's mum Barbara, my sister Zoe, Zoe's partner Rob, Sam's brother Daniel

Tuesday 10 August 2010

Challenge Day 12 + 13

Day 12- How you found out about Posterous/Tumblr and why you made one?

 

Umm .... basically I had mess about with other blogs, such as Tumblr as others were using those to help with cross posting to twitter pictures. Then I found Posterous, which basically made the entire cross posting issue moot. It just works

 

 

Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

 

This is hard. This is regard to something less recent, but the only thing of it's type. I guess, if I was to say anything, it would be,

 

'If any of you had an issue with what I was doing why did you not speak up sooner? Instead things have gone sour as you all assumed what I was feeling. Instead all that seemed to occur was pathetic bitching behind the scenes which hurt the person I cared about. Did you really think I would back down and discard them? Other friends had no issue with things so what happened?'

Sunday 8 August 2010

Challenge Day 10 and 11

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad

Typically right now I am listening to various soundtracks for the roleplay games that I am running/will run/have run. I don't often play music based on my mood. I often play music to make me happy/more neutral.

However, Happy songs? I guess things like Spectra Paris, Juno Reactor, Soman, Combichrist, Goteki, Mechanical Cabaret.

Sad? Um perhaps something more like Patrick Wolf, A Perfect Circle.

Bored? Anything really.

Hyped? Soman, Juno Reactor, Angel Spit, VNV Nation.

Mad? Ermmm... Combichrist, Marylin Manson, The Prodigy, Wumpscut

 

Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends

 

 

I don't have many photos of group shots, so this one will do and is quite funny. We have me, Cassi snoozing after a good night out, Tofu, an Stacey, all at Tofu's after going to some night (I have no idea which). I don't get to see these guys as often as I used to which is a shame.

Saturday 7 August 2010

Coffee Time

Sam with a mocha in Bar Angeli

Friday 6 August 2010

Things to write about?

OK so I need to have some more topic ideas for my writing here.

 

Let's see. What will they be?

 

How to get a gaming group together? What steps to take in doing this? How to recruit the right people? Breaking the ice?

Ideas and brain storming - Just where do my ideas come from? How do I get an idea to be a plot in a game?

Games I have run/played. What worked? What failed? What do I still want to run?

Getting players to roleplay? Just how to you get them to talk in character to each other?

How to get around the Gandalf - How to overcome the need for a NPC to lead the players to the plot and other methods to lead the players to the plot/let them find their own plots.

Storytelling devices - Bluebooking, alternative media, cutscenes.

The Curtain - just how explicit can you be with things?

NPC design - Ideas and keeping it diverse/non cliched.

My gaming area - music, seating, food, things that annoy the group.

Some actual Changeling based short stories based upon my setting.

Your beautiful eyes :: Photography Served

Challenge Day 9

Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days

 

  1. Getting a new roleplay group together - found some new and excellent roleplayers
  2. Figuring out how to program a routine that can recognise rotamers and remove them from a database.

From Wikipedia

Conformational isomerism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Conformers of butane. The two gauche as well as theanti form are staggered conformations

Thursday 5 August 2010

Wednesday 4 August 2010

Who Needs Meditation, When They Can Just Watch the Gundam Time Lapse Video?

Changeling: the Lost - Venice Unmasked - Origins

 

The origins of my Changeling chronicle run deep. Back with an old gaming group we had played a long chronicle of Vampire: the Dark Ages during which the characters had a few visits to the city of Venice. The setting for the game was around the events of the Fourth Crusade, the shocking event where Venice, seeking retribution, diverted the forces of the Crusade from Jerusalem to the city of Byzantium, settling an old score for the Doge.

Of course my interest in Venice grew when I had the chance to go there for a holiday with my wife, when we were just only going out at the time. I had always wanted to visit the city, for its history, art, culture, food and magic of the Carnival. We went during that celebration and went to a masked ball at a grand palazzo, ate loads of food and indulged in the decadent city. It would also be during this time that we would get engaged and the following year return to Venice for our wedding. As a result Venice has invaded my mind. It is a city steeped with history and legend, and is a unusual and unique location.

So why Changelings in Venice? Well I guess because Venice is an easy setting to grab hold of for games like Mage and Vampire. Venice has been the centre of religious, political and scientific intrigue. So not using those games has been a challenge. Changelings seem to fit the concept of Carnival better. They have a need to reclaim life, yet hide amongst the revellers. Venice is also known as the 'Fairy City' and has it's own legends of the Fae visiting the city, and so it has been more exciting looking at Venice through this lens rather than the brooding gothic of Vampires, or the occult war of Mages.

Challenge Day 7 #sam

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Update

So work is going forward ok. Slow but ok. I have one paper ready to publish and another that I have almost cracked. Meanwhile gaming has come back into its own with new players who have been a pleasant surprise. There is Chris and Emily. Both have gamed before with Chris eager to finally be playing World of Darkness again, and Emily seeming to enjoy the rules light departure from dungeon and dragons. Heather and Steve are friends of James Marques, a previous member of the group. Both are in the computer gaming industry and so seemed to enjoy a game where the social freeform aspect is the priority. So yeah gaming is looking up. It now means I need to get my arse in gear to be fully prepared for Changeling.

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Work

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Challenge Day 6

Day06- Favorite super hero and why

 

Ok so a hero. My list would include Wolverine, Spiderman, Batman, Green Arrow (Smallville verse). Now I can't choose the Joker. So I guess, ultimately I choose Green Arrow for today. This may change again.

 

Monday 2 August 2010

Challenge Day 5 #venice

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Changeling will be...

A lot of this

 

 

 

 

A very old short story I wrote #mage #shortstory

    The city was still in the summer breeze, hues of orange and violet filled the evening sky over head, jet contrails crisscrossing the heavens, carving through the nimbus clouds.

    The buildings of the city loomed overhead like dark brooding priests, tired from gasping in the carbon thick air of the streets. Their vermillion brick faces stained by the years of smog and acerb rain. Windows, dusty filters to the world, dragonfly arrays of lenses held in place by pealing acrylic, looked down and dour. In this twilight of greenhouse chemicals and ammonia clouded skies Vincent marched home. His noir polymer boots stomping on cracked and crushed paving slabs. Each step was heard. A faint creak as the leather clad feet strode along the pavement.

    A tinkle and rattle of coins and keys heralded Vincent's return home as he dug from his pinstripe trousers his door key. A satisfying clunk and a ghostly creak welcomed him home. The warm synthetic air gave way to a chill musty one. Pungent incense still lingered on from the night before.

    Vincent hung long windbreaker from its usual peg, and the satchel nestled into the sofa. A bubbling and a click, and soon Vincent had a piping hot coffee in hand, the mug emblazoned with an insipid "Your the Best". He ran a hand through his flambouyant red hair, allowing the tufts to take on some order. It was still a mop of ragged, vivid, mess. He removed the shades from his forehead and made his way up stairs, collecting the satchel as he passed.

    The leather boots thumped up the steps, muffled by the 70s vomit patterned carpet. The banister straining against each hand grip upon the lacquered cream paint. Vincent passed the other rooms on the floor and made his way to his study, entering the curtained room, faint slivers of light cutting past the the thick fabric drapes. Sat humming in some digital tune was Vincent's PC. The titanium white case freckled with dust. Beside it sat a dated CRT monitor, the standby light blinking a lime green disco. Above the monitor was a crome camera, its cover off to allow the device to zoom at the corner of the room.

    Vincent took in a tired breath and sat down on the thread worn office chair and took a gulp of the amaroidal coffee. "Still no answer then?" He sighed, his voice ragged, disguising his youth.

    He turned about on the spot, the chair straining, and he looked in the direction the camera was viewing. Inscribed in a sticky black fluid was a circle, lined with ten burning candles in one quadrant of the circumference. Within the circle lay a fat slab of beef steak and about it three small coffee mugs containing various fluids. One contained Mercury, the next had some Iodine brown emulsion, and the last held what was obviously blood, thick and blackened by the oxidised iron.

    Vincent turned back to the PC and pulled out the keyboard from under a morass of books and printouts. Some held menageries of Norse runes, pages held madalas and seals. The monitor blinked on.

    FILE TO BIG

    Vincent eyed the screen and peered at the unix shell, fumbling about for a DVD to write too

    Well thats new. I thought these demons were only little?

    The tray slid out of the face of the difference engine, and Vincent plucked the silvered polycarbon dish out with his middle finger. A faint emanation of sulphur followed the disc from the cd writer.

    Should be glad I know at least which realm this blighter is from.

    Gingerly Vincent held his hand out over the magic circle and placed the disc on the pungent piece of cow, directing the rainbowed face towards the digital camera.

    For a Decarabia this sucker has taken up a lot of band width.

    Viincent sat back on the chair and swivelled around so to lean his forearms on the back rest, he took off his suit jacket and slung it on the door handle. He reached back for his cup of coffee and pulled out a coin from his pocket. With a plop the coin dropped into the inky caffine and he took a slug of the potion.

    Words not heard of on Earth except by those of his calling emanated from his stern lips, the sounds tugging at the cords of the world, holding back all the locks and veils for a brief moment. The world paused in its rotation and the stars above screamed from their fiery hearts. The candles flickered and the DVD crackled as the reflective metal vaporised within the disc. The smell of cooking fat filled the room and a wind picked up, flicking pages and notes from the computer desk.

    Vincent grinned. Time for an interrogation.

    Seeping through the cracks in the cage of reality, the Decarabia took form, its luminous being spilling from the camera lens and sucked into the magic circle. Blood and mercury boiled.

    "Bastard! Who are you to bring me here?!" Spat the foul toady being, no higher than 2 feet, it observed Vincent with avian orbs. "I shall have the crows tear from you your eyes, I will. Feast upon them, and dance upon your broken form."

    Vincent leaned back laughing and gulped back more of the coffee and held out his cell phone. The LCD screen flared into life and red numerals bled in from the edges. The demon clutched at its ears with 6 spindle like fingers on each hand.

    "Yaarggghhh!" The beast screamed, frantically shaking its pocked marked head back and forth. "It hurts! Nooo. No More!"

    "We have an understanding I see?" Vincent lowered the phone. "So lets get the obvious stuff out the way. Whats the price?"

    "Fine!" The demon sulked and stared at the mage. "Bloody toys and you. Easy it was back when all they had were swords and crystal balls. Nooo. Make diiigiiital  things you did. Bah! Lazy!"

    "Oh come on. I at least gave you breakfast."

    "Ok. The half moon, on the eleventh hour of night. Burnt in foxglove and nightshade. The hair of a newborn boy. And with it part of the placenta."

    "I see we've gone and gotten a little refined in our tastes?" Vincent got up of the chair and crossed over to the edge of the circle, bringing with him a map of the city and a collection of glossy photos. "You know what I'm going to ask?"

    "The city stone. The Great Stone. Oh dear. Late in the hour is it that we try to undo the mistakes of ages past. Of our forefathers." The Decarabia grinned and licked at it's greasy lips, cracked and weeping with sores and scabs. "You've heard him dream. Restless he is. Neither here nor there he dreams. Looking for what was his."

    Vincent sighed. "Yeah. I guess we are a bit late. What is the name?"

    The pygmy creature let out a gutteral cackle. "You think any of us know. Viiiiincent my boy. Are we tired? Has it been a long day? Bless."

    "Fuck you." Vincent sat down cross legged and placed the maps to his side. "Lets rephrase that shall we. What awoke it?"

    "A shard. How does one cut diamond? One uses diamond of course. What awoke him is what sealed him away. Stones and rocks are my speciality didn't you know" With a snigger the demon held up the 'OK' hand signal. Vincent had to smile, as much as these beast were cruel, they did have a way with comedy.

    "Ok, so some idiot breeched the Atlantean seals using some device made of the same stone as the Great Stone and the standing stones about the city. How do we seal it?"

    "Now thats a tough one. Bit like an egg shell."

    "Huh?" Vincent rubbed his chin and got up for a second, the floor boards creaking as his weight shifted. The Decarabia hopped up onto its avian legs and turned to regard the lump of steak and greedily snatched it up, gnawing away of the racid flesh with a mouth of pirana teeth.

    "SHIT!" Vincent stood up and stared at the demon. "Your saying those seals were a one shot! Oh fuck. We're fucked then!"

    "Mwha?" The demon looked over its shoulder, it's mouth half stuffed with the sickly meat. "Mwo ye. Mwah!" The hellish spawn giggled.

    "But thats what it's looking for its name. It's true name. That was how they stripped it of its power. Stole its name and sent the bastard to Elsewhere. Genius. Now all I need to do is find its name before it can. That'll be easy." Vincent chewed on a nail and paced back and forth in the study.

    "Book of Dead Gods."

    "Don't take the piss. Lovecraft was having a joke when that was written. It's not true. The one in London has no power."

    "But in his own cage Man makes power and makes magic."

    Vincent stood and looked at the hellspawn puzzled. Makes its own power and its own magic. Then did the Seers truely win? What if they made things worse. What if man can in the emptiness of this cage invent horrors never seen of before the Fall.

    "Best joke ever made I think that one."

    Vincent raised an eyebrow and slid his hand into his back pocket and ran a finger over the smooth plastic buttons of the cell phone.

    "Piss off!" And in unison Vincent thumbed the button on the cell phone. A high pitched whine broke the stench of the air and the veil of the worlds open once more, sucking back into the pits of hell their foul little minion.

    "Remember the deal Vincent! Remember" The howl of the winds of the Abyss cut the vile creature off as its form was folded into itself and the DVD crumpled and crispened.

Sunday 1 August 2010

Challenge Day 4

A habit that you wish you didn’t have

 

This is easy. Biting my nails. Very bad habit I have had forever. Usually I do it a lot when I am really worried. When I was a kid it was just all the time. These days I am a lot better with it, but there are days where it gets a bit much and I start to chew, and that is when I need to reach for the clippers and files just to stop it getting any worse.