Second week in a row that I come into the update with a win. I could get used to that. But I won’t, because I don’t think I’ll get another win next week.

On The Table:

1. Shambles – STILL very close, still some real life issues at stake, but so very close.
2. Codename: Obnoxious Howler Monkey – Moved to the TROPHY CASE!.
3. Codename: Simulated Jocular Anaconda – Oh dear. Untouched.
4. Shambles Source Material – Unchanged
5. Codename: Gremlin Persistent Malice – Unchanged.
6. Codename: Pandoran Apothecary Chest – Met with one of the other people involved, and arranged for an informal meeting in December after their deadlines have passed.
7. Codename: First Rural Delusions – Unchanged.
8. RPBGN – Panel has been assembled, assets transfer more or less complete. Starting discussions.
9. NaNoWriMo – Ground to a halt due to Real Life issues. Word counts is 24352.

In The Closet

1. Codename: Insignificant Diversionary Anaconda – Mothballed 10/28/09
2. Codename: Cackle Smash Soup – Mothballed 10/28/09
3. Codename: Tactical Plastic Laser – Mothballed 10/28/09
4. Codename: Enormous Intersected Automaton – Mothballed 11/04/09
5. Codename: Big Audio Dynamite – Mothballed 11/04/09
6. Codename: Unwashed Repeat Pedestrian – Mothballed – 11/04/09

In The Trophy Case

1. The Grognards Of Gygax – My entry into the “Best Quest” contest for Legends of Zork. It won Second Place – WOOT!
2. Obnoxious Howler Monkey – I completed the first version

Excuse Of The Week: Real life. Blech.

Remember last week when I stuck something in the Trophy Case that had never even been mentioned before?

No? Ok, well, I will sum up.

I play a game called Legends Of Zork as “Mungo Depanted”. It’s not the Zork I played when I was… well, it’s not the Zork I played. But it’s enjoyable.

The guys behind the game held a contest for user-submitted quests. So I banged one out called “The Grognards Of Gygax.” I’d love to tell you what it’s about, but it won so I can’t. But suffice to say, it’s a decidedly nerdy tribute to some important RPG people.

I found out this morning that I won second place in the contest. I think it’s awesome, especially given that the entry, the more I thought about it, was something of a niche piece. The prize was an in-game thing, but the fame and fortune, I’m sure, will have me getting killed regularly in the game for days and days by better characters who don’t like a show-off.

This is the first look at the project was code named “Obnoxious Howler Monkey” (though now that it’s done I will have to come up with a good name. If you’ve got one, comment below).

The Obnoxious Howler Monkey is basically a customizable soundboard built with the GM/DM in mind. It consists of several parts.

1 – A row of buttons to control play and playlist.
2 – A Vinculum VMUSIC2 module.
3 – An Arduino Microcontroller (See the back photos).
4 – A USB Flash Drive (visible in the front photos, decased).
5 – An external set of powered speakers

It looks like this from the front:

And this from the back:

Here’s how it works. You create 6 different folders on the flash drive according to mood. For example, the one in this example has the following playlists: Action, Angry, Happy, Misc, Sad, Silly. You put mp3s for the corresponding mood into each folder until you’ve got a good selection of music. Then you put the flash drive into the USB port on the front (this is the port to the VMUSIC2 module). You plug the external speakers into the headphone jack.

When you power up the Arduino, it tells the VMUSIC2 to start playing music out of the Misc folder. When you press the first button, the Arduino tells the VMUSIC2 to stop playing, switch to the Action folder, and start playing music from there. The buttons are in order (Action, Angry, Happy, Misc, Sad, Silly) and there is ample room to label each button to avoid confusion.

This first iteration of the device is designed to be built into a large piece I’m working on (Pandoran Apothecary Chest) but it could also be hastily slapped into a case and it would be ready to use.

There are a number of improvements I want to make. Significantly, right now it starts at the beginning of each playlist whenever it switches from one playlist to another. This means the same songs would get regularly played. Also, I have a lighted switch built into the device that currently doesn’t switch anything. It will ultimately be the power switch. I’d also like to add multi-button macros to do things like control volume, skip back, and so forth.

This project was a lot of fun to work on. I plan on putting together a project page once I feel like I’ve worked out the kinks and come up with a good name. Video of it in action follows.

This wasn’t exactly the most productive week on any count. Not a lot of solid updates to give, but here they are. A surprise win that came from out of nowhere, something finally to put in the Trophy Case. Even if I can’t tell you what it is yet.

Also, I jumped into NaNoWriMo which is also sucking up some time.

On The Table:

1. Shambles – Still very close, some real life issues got in the way, but really almost there.
2. Codename: Obnoxious Howler Monkey – Unchanged.
3. Codename: Simulated Jocular Anaconda – Whoops. Untouched. I swore I would get back to it this week..
4. Shambles Source Material – Unchanged
5. Codename: Gremlin Persistent Malice – Unchanged.
6. Codename: Pandoran Apothecary Chest – Unchanged.
7. Codename: First Rural Delusions – Unchanged.
8. RPBGN – Working through assets transfer and code issues. Trying to get the panel together.
9. NEW – NaNoWriMo – Official word count as of today is 17355

In The Closet

1. Codename: Insignificant Diversionary Anaconda – Mothballed 10/28/09
2. Codename: Cackle Smash Soup – Mothballed 10/28/09
3. Codename: Tactical Plastic Laser – Mothballed 10/28/09
4. Codename: Enormous Intersected Automaton – Mothballed 11/04/09
5. Codename: Big Audio Dynamite – Not much response yet, and too many other things to get done. Mothballed 11/04/09
6. Codename: Unwashed Repeat Pedestrian – Mothballed – 11/04/09

In The Trophy Case

1. The Grognards Of Gygax – This is the title for my entry into a contest that came up since the last time I posted an update. It was written and completed in less than a week, and now sits proudly in the Trophy Case. With any luck, next week I will be able to say if I got a trophy prize, or just a “Participant” ribbon.

Excuse Of The Week: NaNoWriMo is eating my head.

I just wanted to drop a quick note to update everyone on Shambles.

Since I sent the galley proofs back for correction, my layout guy has been buried under a tremendous pile of suck at his day job. Rather than pushing him to work a couple hours on Shambles after working consecutive long days at the office, I’m inclined to wait just a little longer. I hope to have good news for everyone at the beginning of the week.

-D

In light of this whole RPGBN business, I’m going to have to shuffle things around a bit again. That means taking a couple things off the table. Maybe I should add a new list for “On Deck”.

But not this week.

On The Table:

1. Shambles – I’ve seen the Galley Proof, and sent it back for a few corrections. People who placed a pre-order got a look at the galley proofs too.
2. Codename: Obnoxious Howler Monkey – Unchanged.
3. Codename: Simulated Jocular Anaconda – I wrote more for this project on Sunday than has previously been written. By several factors. There’s still a long way to go, but I got some real measurable work done on it.
4. Shambles Source Material – Unchanged
5. Codename: Gremlin Persistent Malice – Unchanged.
6. Codename: Pandoran Apothecary Chest – No dates set yet for discussion. Unchanged.
7. Codename: First Rural Delusions – Unchanged.
8. NEW RPBGN Update – In the processing of kicking this off.

In The Closet

1. Codename: Insignificant Diversionary Anaconda – Mothballed 10/28/09
2. Codename: Cackle Smash Soup – Mothballed 10/28/09
3. Codename: Tactical Plastic Laser – Mothballed 10/28/09
4. Codename: Enormous Intersected Automaton – Mothballed 11/04/09
5. Codename: Big Audio Dynamite – Not much response yet, and too many other things to get done. Mothballed 11/04/09
6. Codename: Unwashed Repeat Pedestrian – Mothballed – 11/04/09

In The Trophy Case

Nothing. It’s empty. For now.

Excuse Of The Week: None, it was a productive week.

I will be cross-posting this information to the RPGBN Google Group but wanted to post this here as I know some people who follow this are not in the google group.

I would like to get the RPGBN Advisory Panel in place by the end of the week, so that I can move forward on the outstanding RPGBN work (of which there is a great deal).

I previously mentioned that I would be forming a 4 member Advisory Panel for the RPGBN. I want to provide a few details regarding this panel now, and ask that the RPGBN community select one person to serve on this panel. In order to do so, I need to explain what this means.

1. You don’t get paid. It’s a volunteer gig. But if you can somehow make a dollar by telling people you serve on the panel, you can keep the dollar.
2. People will know you serve on the panel, and you will be expected to gather community suggestions and bring them to the table. That isn’t to say that I won’t take suggestions from anyone else, it’s just that one purpose of this role is to gather the proverbial lupins into a bunch.
3. This position is filled by community selection, and the person serving on the panel is expected to serve the interests of the community.
4. Participating in panel discussions will mean occasional flurries of email discussion during which you will be expected to be an active participant. There will be a lot of discussion in the beginning, but once there is a roadmap, things will die down considerably. I anticipate it requiring a time commitment of something like an hour a day total in the beginning, and maybe an hour a week down the line.
5. This is an advisory panel, not a board of governance. This means the purpose of the panel is to give non-binding advice on important decisions. Nobody should get their feelings hurt if I don’t follow a suggestion.
6. Panel members will be expected to be considerate of each other and should likewise expect consideration. I have no tolerance or time for drama.
7. Panel discussions will be private, but not secret. If you serve on the panel and someone asks you a question about what’s being discussed, you are encouraged to answer their questions provided you do so an honest and respectful fashion.
8. Any panel member can walk away at any time for any reason. I may dismiss a panel member if I believe the relationship is no longer productive. Should the community selected representative step down or be dismissed from the panel, I will ask the community to select a new representative. If the community representative is ever dismissed, I will provide my justification for the dismissal to the community. (I hope never to have to do that.)
9. I will listen to every suggestion that the panel brings to the table.

If this still sounds like something you want to do, and you want to throw your hat into the ring to be the community selected representative, I request that you send an email to the rpgbloggers google group with a 50 word summary of why the community should select you as the representative. If you are not part of the google group, you will need to join the group. Comments here and personal emails are not valid substitutes.

Tomorrow night, I will post details on how to vote, and votes will be counted on Friday.

Late last night, I received Galley Proofs for Shambles. We’ve compiled a list of changes and sent them back to layout for adjustment.

If you’ve been following along, you know we’ve experienced a number of setbacks in the final run-up to the end. Despite these setbacks we continue to make good progress and we should be able to start offering the screen ready PDF for download at DriveThruRPG very soon.

In the meanwhile, if you placed a pre-order, you should have received an email from me containing the galley proofs. You were very kind to pre-order, and you deserve to see something as soon as possible. These proofs do not replace the version you paid for – you will still get a free download the day the PDFs are available for purchase. But I wanted to give you an early look.

Doing NaNoWriMo A Terrible Idea. At least, given everything else I have on my plate this year, me trying to to it this year makes it clear that I am not only crazy, I am also insane.

The thing is, though, I had this idea to try using NaNoWriMo to write a fiction piece to support Shambles. Fiction tie-ins for game franchises are nothing new. If any of you ever played MTG you probably bought one of those fat packs with a special d20 to use as a life counter, boosters or a starter deck, and a novel you never read. Paranoia had some books and comics, and there are countless other examples. But those are all from the big guys. What about us little people? Why don’t we try it? Do we try it? Did you try it? Did it work?

My only previous successful NaNoWriMo entry was a love story about two pixels in an Atari 2600. It was, to say the least, unreadable, though I know two people who read it. (No you can’t have links). And I know doing NaNoWriMo doesn’t make you a writer anymore than going camping makes you a tent. But, I’m curious to give it a try and see if something comes out.

Have any of you tried writing long fiction pieces in support of your games? I don’t mean stories about your characters, I mean stories set in the world defined by a game you created. If so, how did they come out? If not, why not?

A short history for people just tuning in.

I belong to the RPG Bloggers Network. A couple weeks ago, the guys that run the network announced that they were stepping down for a variety of reasons. Chaos ensued [citation neded] and there was a followup announcement that they would accept proposals for a hand-off of the network to someone else.

That same day, I quietly put together and submitted my own proposal. Then came a couple weeks of waiting. I tried to lay low, not bugging the guys in charge because I knew they had their hands full. But I was also a little antsy. In the end, my proposal was accepted, and I will be taking over the RPGBN.

I’m sure you all have a number of questions. I will try to address some of them now, and more in the coming days.

What does this mean in the short term? Short term in this case means no less than 30 days. What’s going to happen in the coming month or so?

1. A period of transition. We are working on an assets transfer, so that I can get the site up and running on my own server and determine resource needs. The desired goal is to complete the transfer with little to no downtime, but I’d ask that you be patient during the transition. We are working together to minimize any disruption.
2. The admission process will reopen after the transfer. Once the assets transfer has been completed, and the site is running on my own server, I will reopen the admission process. I do not have an ETA for this, but know that we’re trying to get this completed as quickly as possible.
3. No immediate drastic changes. Nothing visible is going to change drastically right away. The first changes to be made will be to address some resource consumption issues, and they will be transparent to everyone else.
4. The formation of an advisory board. I will be forming a four person advisory board. My goal is to select people who will bring balanced viewpoints to the table. I will ask this board for advice when making decisions about the RPGBN. @DaveTheGame is one of these advisers. I will select two others, and one more will be selected by the community. This will take place on the google group in the coming days.

What does this mean in the long term? The long term in this case means anything that’s at least 30 days out.

1. Yes, there will be changes. I do not believe the RPGBN in its current incarnation is sustainable long term. Indeed, the current owners wouldn’t be stepping down if the network was easily sustainable in its current form. The current approach works great when there’s 5-20 blogs in the network, but it’s less practical as the number of blogs increases – the signal-to-noise is just too challenging. The changes I have in mind are designed to specifically address this problem.
2. Site redesign. There will be a a site redesign. This will be necessitated by the changes. It will be done by someone who is better at visual things than I am.
3. No plans for ads, fees, or otherwise monetizing the RPGBN. I do not have any plans at this time for ads or anything like that. I can conceive of a scenario where network members may want to rotate ads for their newest releases, and if there’s a useful way in which to do this, then it will be implemented. But beyond that I can’t see much gain from trying out ads and such. A little coin to help offset hosting costs might be nice once in a while, but if I get needy in that area I’ll just come out and ask.

What was in the proposal? The short version is, community driven meritocratic noise filters, allowing for people to filter noise on their own, possibly having the community filter new members, some better blog-to-rpgbn site integration, and a desire to keep track of hot topics throughout the RPGBN and other media programmatically.

Is there a reason you don’t just post the whole proposal for all of us to read? Yes. I want to review it with the advisory board and run some proof-of-concepts first, and change it from a proposal to a roadmap. This way there’s not a lot of idle talk about ideas that are not fully formed.

I have an idea. How do I communicate it? I welcome any input. Feel free to contact me directly with your ideas. I may not use them, but I will listen.

That should cover the basic questions. Feel free to respond if you have pressing questions that have not been addressed. Update: You can respond in the comments below, at the RPGBloggers Google Group, or

In conclusion, The RPGBN has been good to us. It will continue to be good to us. Many of us rely on traffic generated from the RPGBN to get some additional exposure. The RPGBN will continue to be a valuable tool for members, regardless of their renown, who are trying to get their content out there.