Redwolf's Journal (continued)

Recent comments elsewhere have got me thinking a little bit about my bias against social skills in RPGs. I tend to feel they should serve as guidelines, particularly for interaction with NPCs, rather than a form of "combat." I've heard the argument (repeatedly) that if the rules suppose lopping off someone's head merely by rolling dice, they should just as readily cover changing someone's opinion. While I see the rationale there, it's never sat well with me. Why can't I just accept that? Why indeed. First, there's a matter of interaction and immersion. That's a matter of play style that differs between people, though. See... they rules need to cover how my mercenary swordsman can slay a dragon because there's absolutely no way to simulate that in reality. Duels between characters? I'd rather see that on paper too, 'cause I don't want anyone hurt. Asking someone a question? THAT I would rather have done by "speaking" (o...

Finished this book last night - number 8 in the Dresden Files. I'm impressed by it - largely because I have trouble thinking of another series that I've read as much of and still held up well. Back in the day, I read the Belgariad and Mallorean, enjoying both, but after the first several books things didn't feel quite as interesting. The Wheel of Time started really wearing on me at book 4 or 5 and I pretty much stopped following it after that. It feels rather remarkable to me that I'm still reading a series after so long and it still has the same sort of fun to it. The characters and their relationships have changed, but slowly enough to feel like a natural evolution. The other oddity that strikes me is how this book felt less self-contained than I'm accustomed to. Sure, there are explanations of what has gone before, but very few of the characters are new and there are plenty of threads pulled over from previous books and even more left open for the future. Some...

Last week was particularly good. Two books finished, one short story written, some measure of cleaning done around the house. No complaints there. This week isn't bad so far, though I'm feeling more tired and I'm troubled by some talk at work. People are worried about one of our web developers - in that they're asking me how badly he could screw up our systems if he tried. Ugh. We have backups, but they're pretty tech-savvy over there and have more access than most people. I'm unclear on just what's going on, but if someone in that department wants to get vindictive, it could be ugly. God of War 2 Good game, of course. If you're into action with a few puzzles thrown in and you didn't play the first one, you missed out. If you did play the first one, you know what to expect pretty much - more of the same high quality. Gah! Think I spent over half an hour on one phase of one boss fight simply because I didn't realize what I had to do in orde...

Probably not as entertaining as it could have been, since it came on a Sunday, but still amusing. A few samples: - World of Warcraft - having recently set up The Armory, a website showing the (relatively) current status and equipment of any character you look up - announced a new, crafted item in game. The "tinfoil hat" blocks your character from the Armory as well as granting some other dubious abilities. - Google's free ISP service: http://www.google.com/tisp/ - An announcement of d20 My Little Pony - Cartoon Network. Oy. They're releasing their Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie soon. They'd run commercials saying they would premiere the movie on TV. I didn't think they could be seriously. They were. Sort of. During their regular evening programming, they ran the movie tiny down in the lower left corner of the screen. Cute, guys.

I'm pretty reluctant to take time off work due to illness. For one, it's pretty rare that I'm sick beyond a bout of allergies or a cold. Today, though, is one of those days. Ugh.

It does seem to be a financial rule. Did my taxes, got my refund. Yay. 'course, after buying the new tires I've been putting off for six months, trying to find birthday presents for friends who normally don't get any (and three birthdays on the same day is kinda rough), and being warned that I may not receive a full rent amount this month I'm in a perfect position to end up right where I was before when the dust settles. Well... at least I'm not coming out behind right now.

I'm not really sure why it is, but I find myself being more analytical of storylines these days. The sad part is this means some degree less enjoyment on my part due to what I see as technical failings. A couple points have stood out in my mind lately: Internal Consistency Sometimes I say realism, but that isn't actually what I mean. I read and watch plenty of things that have no basis in reality, but I still expect an amount of believable reactions within the established framework of the story. If your supernaturally-imbued protagonist suffers a knife wound that has to be stitched when he returns to human form, that's fine. If he is later riddled with bullets and reverts without a scratch, I start asking why. If there's no answer provided, that's a strike against the story in my book. This also applies to seemingly-sudden changes in things like geography, naming conventions, or the rules of (meta)physics. And while some explanation is usually better than none...