Voidwalkers Are Awesome

Given that I spent six hours playing WoW last night I've guilted myself into actually getting something done this afternoon that doesn't involve clearing out my quest log or running back to the warlock trainer for new spells (I started another character - an Undead Warlock - on a different server that some of the guys I work with are playing on; BTW, the Undead are really cool). Now, I've only been playing for a tad over a week, so I don't think I'd call it an addiction just yet; I'm really just in the novelty phase (I flew on the Zeppelin from Lordaeron to Kalimdor last night!). In a few weeks we'll see if I can label it an "addiction" or not. Oh, and I did the quest last night to get the spell to summon a Voidwalker - those things rule!

One thing that helped last night was that I had no server problems, which hasn't happened since about a week ago. Could be all the geeks were out on dates and not playing? (Says the guy who spent six hours on a Friday night playing an on-line RPG...but, hey, I'm married so it's not like I have to go out looking for women...)

So aside from that (my Warlock can make dynamite now!), what's on the slate for the site? Well, I'm almost through Complete Adventurer so I'll be updating the House Rules soon with the approved feats and prestige classes from that book. Issue #8 of the Mythosa Chronicle is going through editting and should be out on the first of the month. I've got some plans for TableSmith formulating, though it's too early to pin anything down for that. Not trying to be mysterious or anything (I personally believe that when someone says something like "I'm working on this cool/big/awesome new super-secret project but I can't tell you anything about it yet" they should be slapped in the face with some sort of large fish...perhaps a salmon or a tuna). I just don't like talking about something I'm going to do until it's in its finishing stages.

And holy crap do I really need to get back to painting. I don't think I've touched the miniature painting table in months.

World of Warcraft Update

OK, I was able to create my account today. I started playing about 10 PM, just logged off now (over 4 hours later). Pretty cool. Intuitive UI, cool gameplay, graphics are a little dated and blocky but I'll life with that. I noticed virtually no lag, so if that's the cost, so be it.

If anyone's on the "Kargath" server, feel free to look for Marcellus the Human Paladin. If you're Alliance, of course ;)

Not too impressed so far, Blizzard...

I snagged a copy of World of Warcraft on the way home from work and just finished installing it and having it get the latest patches. I go the Blizzard page to create my account, enter my authentication key on the second page, hit "Continue" and...

...a page from the server listing a bevy Java errors. Thought it might be a Firefox thing (no reason for that, but hey), so I tried in IE. Same thing.

Nice job, Blizzard! I know there's issues with the game servers being laggy for gameplay, but errors in creating an account? C'mon - there should be no connection there whatsoever.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but if you run into a piece of software this early - before you even have a chance to use it - that really leaves a bad taste in the mouths of your customers.

Hopefully it'll be working tomorrow. In the meantime, off to Blizzard with a screenshot...

Finally Updated the Mythosa Gazetteer

OK, it's finally done. The religion book has been updated for a little while to match the changes to Mythosa and the map, and now that the current campaign has more-or-less finished up (about 4 AM last Saturday), I can post the updated gazetteer (fortunately, the finale also finished as I hoped it would, so I didn't have to re-write that last part of the updated history). Though in the actual game the PCs fought a severely-weakened Orcus (a full-strength Orcus would have beat their asses to a pulp - they're around level 17). I used the Zoroastrian name for Asmodeus in the gazetteer for the demon for copyright reasons. And, yes, I realize that in D&D "Asmodeus" is a devil while "Orcus" is a demon. Deal with it.

After a brief hiatus to the the real world as well as one of the other guys running an adventure I'll be DMing the new campaign. I'm looking forward to it, as I've discovered I'm not really a fan of high-level campaigns (this is not just because of my regular group but due to some other high-level adventures I've played in in the recent past). High-level stuff can be fun, don't get me wrong. But week after week of it I don't enjoy. Primarily for two reasons: the first is that the combats take forever. Everybody either has a bazillion actions to run through or too many options to quickly decide what is tactically most advantageous at that given moment. The other reason is that it seems like at high-level characters are defined not by their backgrounds or personalities, but by the rules they have at their disposal - it's all about the feats, or the magic items, or the spells...not about the characters.

Mike Mearls sums up my feelings pretty well in the Darkness & Dread d20 book (from FFG) when he describes the appeal of "dark horror gaming":

The key to a horror game is that you must use your own planning, inventiveness, and quick thinking to survive. You cannot simply rely on an optimal selection of feats or magic items to pull through an adventure. Roleplay becomes much more important, while good tactics trump class abilities and spells.

Granted, he's taking about horror gaming and not "heroic fantasy" or whatever you want to label a typical D&D campaign, but the point is the same. And I wouldn't say this is just a 3.0/3.5 issue; it would apply to high level in any edition.

Actually, there's a third point as well: As a DM, there's a buttload of stuff you have to keep track of when it comes to running high-level stuff. The abilities of monsters and NPCs for one. Each player has one character to keep track of and optimize; the DM has numerous creatures and characters to handle, and it's difficult to recall exactly everything each opponent can do much less what each of those things mean. Not to mention preparation is a pain since you have so much more to consider if you actually want an adventure to be a challenge. You don't want to negate or circumvent your players' characters' abilities - that's a cop-out. You should be able to use all your nifty abilities and swag once you hit higher levels. But at the same time as a DM you need to put something together that will still interesting. It's not hard for an entire adventure to come to a quick conclusion because you didn't account for a particular spell or item one of the PCs had.

A PSA for D&D-centric Gamers!

Attention!

Not all RPGs should be defined in terms of D&D. Even if a game has a "d20" logo on it, it does not necessarily mean it is D&D in a different form!

The "D&D Style" is not the be-all and end-all of RPGs. Those of you who think it is need to use some of that vaunted "imagination" you claim to have so much of.

For those of you who are aware of this, you may forget what you just read since it didn't apply to you.

A Quick Note to Spammers

Please die. Seriously, if you're not going to stop sending out spam, please take your lives. It would make things so much easier.

The same goes for you scumbag phishers and other scammers. And virus writers. Note that I'm talking about writers, not the people that end up accidentally forwarding them. Though people who should know better ("Hmm...I know I'm not supposed to open attachments, but Dave sent this, so it must be legit.") deserve a severe beating.

Some people estimate that 80% of e-mail these days is spam. I should be so lucky. I believe between my two addressess over 95% of my e-mail is spam. Thunderbird catches only about 50-60% of them, which is a pain. But it's free, so I can't complain too much.

So, in conclusion: spammers, phishers, and virus-writers, please die. Thanks a bunch!

Blasted TV...

Good for very little, so I don't watch it that much other than for the obvious stuff, most of which usually doesn't last (i.e.; Family Guy).

So I've been hearing lots of good things about Lost. I've only watched about an episode and a half before tonight, but now I'm cursing not having starting at the beginning. Not that tonight was that stellar, but between what I've seen and what little I've read in the synopsis online...

Seems like there's some intelligence behind the show, which is sadly lacking in TV these days. And movies, for that matter. And music, and...well, most entertainment. Of course, that's actually a good thing. To quote the sage Butthead: If some things didn't suck, other things wouldn't be as cool.

Plus, we wouldn't have time for everything if all of it was cool. I barely have enough time for the 10% that is.

Adobe DRM Hassles? Naw...

From DriveThruRPG's website:

The DRM features of Acrobat 7 have not been implemented by Adobe.
If you upgrade to 7, you will be unable to access your e-books. Please wait
until Adobe posts a corrected version. We will announce it here.

I recall seeing in webforum discussions that various concerns people had were essentially dismissed by DriveThruRPG when they first announced they were using DRM. One in particular was the longevity of the PDFs - that is, how long would people be able to open the PDFs into the future. Despite the fact that one of the DRM apologists claimed that most of the gaming books he's owned he's tossed after a few years or so, this is a very valid concern (for instance, I - like many others - still crack open my 1st Edition DMG from time-to-time, and that book is over 25 years old).

Now, I'm not sure what the deal is above since I just tried opening some of the PDFs I've gotten from DTRPG in Acrobat 7 and it worked just fine - though it did require me to re-register Acrobat through Adobe again, which was a big of a pain. This isn't a major issue, but it does turn on a brighter warning light, in my opinion.

Another interesting issue concerning this: it sounds like Microsoft is going to be giving up on its "Passport" system. This is the same system you use to register Acrobat with Adobe for DRM. Now, I'm sure something else will replace it, but it will no doubt involve more hassles for people who simply want to use PDFs they have legitimately purchased and downloaded. I'm all for protecting the rights of producers and artists, but at some point these guys have to realize that all they're doing is making life harder for the people that are their true audience, since the thieves and pirates are always going to find a way around their "protection" schemes.

Seems to me the best use of DTRPG is to get material you couldn't otherwise get in print (whether due to shipping issues or for things that are out-of-print, etc.), and then print it off so you know you at least will always have something to show for the cash you shelled out.

Sundry Bits

I've been dealing with a bad cold this past week, which has limited my ability to do much on the Web site (or anything else, for that matter). What's worse is that the nastiest days were Thursday and Friday - both days that I already had off from work. So a vacation day and a company holiday got eaten up by being sick. That blows...

Anyway, the next Chronicle is in development but may be delayed a bit due to this cold. Hopefully I can get it done by next weekend.

I was able to finish Halo 2 earlier this week (since sitting around in front of a TV was something I was capable of). Overall a good game and an improvement over the original. However, the ending really pissed me off, much in the same way the Half-Life 2 ending did. One wonders if Valve or Bungie are familiar with the concept of "closure"? Given the sales numbers for both games (particularly Halo 2), I'm sure that a "#3" is in the works for both, but I don't want to wait two-four years to see how these stories turn out. Seems to me like a case of the marketing department running the show. Or, in the case of Halo 3, having a "AAA title" ready to launch the XBox 2.