News Archives: February 2005

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Server Move

Two unexplained power outages within a week mean that that server needs to be taken out of production. I've spent much time moving the last few sites to a new machine within a (hopefully!) more reliable data centre.

I'm also way behind on e-mail, and not updating this journal as often as I like.

These facts may be related.

Posted by graham @ 06:14 pm

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Quick Survey

I know there's a number of role-players read this - everyone else can skip now. Below is a list of areas that might be considered important to "good role-playing". I'm not going define the term any further - it means what you think it means. What I'd like people to do is take the list, and place it in order from most to least important in your view. Once you've done that, either e-mail me the list (you can drop the bits in brackets) or post it as a comment on the live journal mirror. If you like, you can include a cut-off, below which you consider everything else to be irrelevant. I'd also like an idea how long you've been role-playing (to the nearest year if well under a decade, nearest five years if longer). Please only give me one response, although you can make that anonymous if you wish.

I'll post the results of this totally un-scientific experiment at some point. Any questions, comments, or areas I've completely forgotten, please let me know!

Playing the Character. (Making decisions, performing actions, etc. that are correct for that character.)
Immersion. (Not getting distracted by the world outside the game, not making comments that only make sense out of game.)
Acting. (Including dramatic speeches, emoting, accents, and so forth.)
Humour. (Making yourself or others laugh.)
Problem Solving. (Including murder mysteries or other detective work, finding and defeating traps, riddles, etc.)
Character Survival. (Possibly including not losing essential body parts or sanity.)
Rules Mastery. (Someone who doesn't rely on the GM, other players, or the manuals for the mechanical bits of the game.)
Game Mastery. (This is about players here - by this I mean ability to get good results out of the rules system. Anything from min-maxing character creation to inventive spell use.)
Tell Stories. (The character is secondary to the plot.)
Ensuring Enjoyment for Others. (Involving others in the game, helping them achieve their goals, etc. Edit : I'm talking about other *players* not *characters* here.)
Treasure Collection. (Including coins or macguffins, and also xp, hero points, ticks-in-the-boxes or whatever your system uses for character advancement.)
Goal Completion. (Ability to focus on the goals, whether set by the system, the player(s), or the GM.)
Creativity. (Bringing new ideas, focuses, plotlines, details, etc. to the game.)
Edit : Props. (Including handouts, detailed backgrounds, weapons or tools, costumes, etc.)
Anything Else. (If I've missed something, add it in! Be specific!)

Posted by graham @ 02:17 pm

Sunday, February 13, 2005

More on the last entry

Apparently people really are that stupid. Bebo.com *state* that they will give your details to spammers, yet at least three people I know have stuck their hotmail password into the website, and spammed everyone in their address book.

Thanks guys. I really needed more spam.

Posted by graham @ 09:22 pm

Identity Theft

At various points (including this morning) I've had e-mails (some supposedly from people I know, some from names I don't recognise) asking me to register with some website, which wants various personal details (like an address or phone number). I routinely ignore these, as they appear to be a crude attempt at identity theft.

However, over the last three months or so I've had four apparently from one person, so I'm starting to wonder if she is really behind these. If anyone is trying to get me to sign up to these "services", I won't be doing so because the last thing I need is more people passing my details on to spammers and other marketing drones.

Posted by graham @ 01:39 pm

What I learnt about Lorien Trust

Last night I attended my first Lorien Trust rubber sword LARP event. Previously, I've only been involved in F&H, which in all honesty I preferred, but possibly only because I was 18 at the time... There were a few lessons about the system that I picked up.

1. Never play a non-human. Non-human characters get a bunch of weapons that do extra damage to them alone, and a bunch of people who will try to kill you before they've talked to you. (Actual quote : "It's nothing personal, I just hate all Fey.") In return, you get no advantages at all.

2. Always play as part of a big group. People spend most of their time either talking within their group, or having high-level discussions between big groups. Possibly there's an exception here if your character (er, "monster") is part of the big plot TM. Even repeatedly offering unconditional help and support to a group will be ignored.

3. Everything is about combat. Seriously, you can play a fighter (do combat), a healer (heal people after combat) or a spell-caster (field artillery). There is no scope at all in the system for interesting powers which cannot be used in combat.

4. Plot is only for big groups. The chances of anyone else finding out enough of what is going on to be helpful is pretty minimal.

Roughly, my game break down was about an hour settling in, half an hour trying to play the character concept I'd come in with, three and a half hours flirting (mainly with just two people), and an hour alternately trying to find the plot and avoiding Claire or I getting killed for chosing the "wrong" race. Somehow I doubt I'll bother again.

Posted by graham @ 12:36 pm

Monday, February 7, 2005

Today I have...

Stephen recently started rounding up is week's gaming. I don't game that much, but suspect that today in real life deserves its own little round up. So, today I have...

Wondered whether each time I reach the checkout in a supermarket I should present a card reading "I don't want my bags packed. I don't want anything put in those silly little bags. I know you think this makes me weird, but I don't want to hear about it. Thank you."

Probably seriously scared a friend by answering his implied question.

Hopefully ended a worrying A over-reacting because B over-reacted because A over-reacted because B over-reacted because... cycle.

Refused to accept thanks, but not beer.

Discovered a mailing list on what appears to be an appropriately named server.

Discovered details of plans to tax me up to £500 a year by a council within whose boundaries I do not live.

Continued an increasingly circular argument about soil.

Played with fairy wings.

And probably other stuff that currently escapes me...

Posted by graham @ 10:20 pm

Saturday, February 5, 2005

The moral is : Never give gifts to neighbours

In one of the more insane cases from the American legal system, two teenage girls have been sued successfully for baking cookies as gifts for their neighbours. In their rush to distribute their gifts, the girls left each batch of cookies, along with a goodwill message, on the porch after knocking on the door. One middle-aged woman had a "panic attack" because of the time (10:30 at night) and no one being there when she answered the door. She was "hospitalised" and the girls have been ordered to pay her medical fees.

It isn't clear who will have to pay the psychiatric bill that this nutcase also so clearly needs.

Posted by graham @ 11:55 am

Friday, February 4, 2005

Comments Disabled

Numerous recent spam attacks on the comments system here has forced me to disable it until such time as I can install some mods that will hopefully prevent the gits from abusing my time and resources.

I would still love to hear from people, but for the moment we'll need to make do with old-fashioned e-mails.

Posted by graham @ 03:47 pm

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