Bid On A Games, Including A Custom Game I Will Create, For A Good Cause

Posted by & filed under Gaming & Design.

I caught news this morning that Tom Vasel from Dicetower lost his infant son.

If you want to read all about this, you can find some info from here and there’s plenty out there to read. I’ll warn you ahead of time, it’s a hard read. My heart goes out to Tom, though I don’t know him personally.

A games auction has been organized to raise funds for the family. Please review it participate if you can.

I don’t really have anything suitable to add to the list, and have instead submitted an item of One Custom Game.You can read about my entry here.

If you’ve never been in the ICU with your child, it can be hard to imagine what that feels like. I can’t imagine losing a child.

Field Report : The Awesome GM Box In Action

Posted by & filed under Gaming & Design, Props.

This weekend I finally got a chance to run a game using my Awesome GM Box. I thought some of you might be interested to hear how it performed in the wild.

I was running my irregular Paranoia game. Something about being behind a large block of White made it feel all the better – more ominous.

Purely as a screen, it of course did the job. I really liked being able to write character names on the top of the box, corresponding to where the players were sitting. I liked it better than name tents, as those tend to get knocked about. I used Squares map as a chart to keep track of treason, commendations, fines and so on. The card slots were great for holding notes that had been passed to me (as folded cards, so they hung in plain sight). The Hex tokens were used a couple times for chairs and such, and I liked having the hex map out there for drawing quick rooms. All these things were really great.

However, I had to laugh when one of the first things I did was open up my stock Paranoia GM screen to look something up. I did this on more than one occasion. I also found that on the whole, I didn’t make much use of the whiteboard on my side of the screen, save for the Squares map. The glue I chose for the whiteboard wasn’t so hot, which made it a little frustrating in light of the fact that I was hardly using the whiteboard overall. And the strap harness I put together to carry the box feels a little unwieldy.

I think the box in the current form would work great to the side of the gaming table, as more of a supplies depot for handouts and such. I’m mulling over ways to revise the design to make this even better, but my gut feel is that I may want something smaller for the GM screen proper, using the bigger box to hold handouts, props, supplies and the like. Redesign stuff is brewing. I’ll let you know how this goes.

Thing Four – Dundracon Prep Kickoff Post #52WoD

Posted by & filed under Conventions, Gaming & Design.

Thing Four in my 52 Weeks of Done project is a preparation push for Dundracon.

Thing : Dundracon Preparations
Type : Game Design, Writing, Making and Organization
Size : Scattered, Smothered, Covered and Chunked
Description :Dundracon is a local convention that takes place during President’s Day weekend in San Ramon. I’m running an official game of Shambles that riffs off The Magnificent Seven and Seven Samurai. The game is called The Putrescent Seven. Not only do I need to write up the game and do my normal game prep, I need to revise the assembly of the Awesome GM Box, and pre-pack any standard con supplies in advance (business cards, props, flask, etc).
S.Q.U.I.D. Test : This Thing will not be Done until the following tasks are complete:

  1. Watch both the Magnificent Seven and Seven Samurai for inspiration
  2. A Writeup of The Putrescent Seven from which I can run the full 6 hour scenario
  3. Printed character handouts, including name tents with portraits, character sheets, and Shambles cheat-sheets.
  4. Compilation of adequate soundtrack to cover the various settings in the scenario
  5. Re-assembly of the Awesome GM Box to make it suitable for convention use
  6. Gaming and convention supplies packed and ready for the trip

With almost a month to go until the convention, it may seem a little silly to be doing all this now. But there is a method to my madness.

For one thing, I may be almost out of crappy business cards, but I won’t know until I try to pack them. If I am almost out, I want to reorder, preferably some better ones.

Also, I have a tendency to go into games unprepared. I want to knock this one out of the park, especially given that I’m drawing from such excellent source material. If I have the prep done this far in advance, I can tweak it more, or spend a little time making it Better or adding some shine.

Then there’s the Awesome GM Box. I used it this weekend for the first time when running an actual game, and I have some assembly issues. I’d like to resolve those before the Convention. If this requires a re-cut of the box, I want plenty of lead time.

Finally, there’s the whole stress factor. If this is all Done well in advance of the con, it’ll be one less thing to cause me stress in four weeks.

So, off I go. I actually cheated a little, as I spent some time this AM in a coffee shop, making notes on The Putrescent Seven ahead of this post. But that’s not really cheating Kids. That’s working ahead.

If you want to sign up for the game, it runs Saturday at 6 PM, in Room 151, and goes for 6 hours. Obviously it’s for a hard 7 Players – no crash spots.

Thing Three Partial Wrapup – Tales From The Table Deadline Extended #52wod

Posted by & filed under Gaming & Design.

So, Thing Three, previously codenamed “Playground Supervisor Dispatches” was outed on Thursday as Tales From The Table

I indicated on that post that I would receive submissions until Sunday night, 8:00PM, at which point I would determine if the project was a go / no go.

I also indicated in the KIckoff Post that I’d Kill the project if I didn’t get at least 24 statements of intent, or if I didn’t detail how the project would be brought to fruition.

After discussing all this with some fairly intelligent people, I’ve decided to break some of my self-imposed rules. Specifically, a couple people made a pretty good case that extending the submission deadline would was a pretty good idea. To that end, I am amending the Done qualifiers to extend this project for a week, to Sunday the 30th, 8pmish PST. There are a couple caveats:

1 – If you want Tales from the Table to happen, either because you want to read it or you want to contribute, I need you to spread the word. Pimp it on Twitter in your own blog, on a podcast, in your favorite forums, wherever you think interested people might be.

2 – For the purposes of 52 Weeks of Done, I’m Done working on this one – I’m just not making the Launch It / Kill It decision until next week. That means I’ve got the details for bringing the project to fruition pretty much worked out.

I think that covers it. I’m still calling it a success – I did what I wanted to do, which is get the idea out and measure interest. I’ll decide next week if there’s enough to proceed.

Comments, questions below.

Tales from the Table – A Call For Submissions

Posted by & filed under Gaming & Design.

Gaming table horror stories – we’ve all heard them, some of us have been there to see them: Players going legitimately crazy at the table, GMs showing up painfully drunk, fist-fights over who gets the elf girl, players hooking up loudly during a break, and of course, that time an in-character argument abruptly turned into a screaming match over who paid for the pizza last time.

As players and GMs, we see a lot of crazy, real life stuff when we’re sitting at the table. I think it’s time we shared some of those stories with each other.

I’m looking to put together an anthology of the most bizarre things ever witnessed at the gaming table. I want the funniest, weirdest, most uncomfortable or just plain scariest things that you’ve ever personally witnessed. I think there have to be enough stories like this to make a great read for players and GMs alike. I want to know if I’m right.

Think you’ve got a story? Shoot me an – I’m looking for 75 words or so that convince me you’ve got something horrifying or hilarious, and that you can tell your tale in an interesting way. If it looks like there’s enough potential material out there, I’ll formalize the project and ask for the whole story. If your story makes the cut, you’ll get paid a flat fee (SFWA rate of $.05 / word).

I’m setting a tight deadline for this phase of the project : Three days. If I don’t have a sense for the potential for available material by Sunday Evening Sunday Evening, Jan 30th (Call it 8:00pm PST), then I’m moving on to work on something else. So don’t put it off. Jump in now.

You can comment below if you have questions or just think it’s a cool idea, but I’d really like to hear from people who are interested in participating, buying a copy, or backing the project.

Know someone with a good story? Know some people who might be interested? Please spread the word.

Update : A couple smart people have convinced me to extend the deadline by a week. I’ve modified the date above to reflect this.

Thing Three – Playground Supervisor Dispatches #52WoD

Posted by & filed under Floatsam.

It’s week Three of 52 Weeks of Done, and I’m hoping to use what I’ve been doing with the project in a new way, something I hadn’t exactly anticipated.

I started 52WoD in order to knock off a bunch of things I have in various states of completion. It was perhaps naive of me to think I wouldn’t come up with something new to do while I was working on all those projects. But I had an idea last week that I thought was a pretty good one. And rather than adding it to a queue and letting my brain think about it for a while, I’ve decided to attack it now. The idea is to determine, this week, if it’s a viable thing to pursue or not. If it’s a good idea, I’ll pull the trigger. If not, I’ll put it down for good. This might not seem like it’s all that ground breaking, but usually I chew on things more before doing something like this. So it’s a departure for me to jump out publicly with something at this stage.

Thing : Playground Supervisor Dispatches – Launch It or Kill It
Type : Writing / Collaboration
Size : Scattered and Smothered
Description : Playground Supervisor Dispatches is an idea I had for pulling together a compilation of writings on a specific subject from a number of different sources. I thought it was a neat idea, but I can’t say if it’s viable or not until I put it out there to see if it floats.
S.Q.U.I.D. Test : This Thing will not be Done until it is Launched or Killed:

To Launch It, I need to:

  1. Write a post detailing the project and calling for statements of intent;
  2. Receive 24 statements of intent from prospective contributors;
  3. Provide details for how the project will be brought to fruition;

To Kill It, any one of the criteria will be sufficient:

  1. Failure to receive 24 statements of intent;
  2. Failure to setting on details for a project plan;
  3. Determination that the project budget is unworkable;
  4. Determination, after a week of discussion with no less than 5 advisors, that the project is ill-advised

I acknowledge that some of the above criteria do not meet the S.Q.U.I.D. test as I outlined it in last week’s wrapup post – specifically, some of these criteria have third-party dependencies. But this Thing cannot be Done without these third-party dependencies. So there it is.

I realize that this post is pretty scant on details and specifics for the project. Never fear – those details will come in a later post, after they’ve been fleshed out.

Thing Two Is Done. #52WoD

Posted by & filed under Gaming & Design.

Earlier today I declared victory over Thing Two.  Here’s the wrapup.

Thing Two was finishing a first draft for my piece of Lunar Kitsch Missile, a game I’ve been working on with a couple collaborators since around April last year.  All told, I expected there to be about 5000 or so words involved, excluding emails and such.  The success criteria were:

1 – A full first draft for my contribution.  That’s all done, and it came in closer to 6000 words all told;
2 – Reconciliation of my contribution to those of the other contributors.  That’s done as well.  There are still some gaps to be filled, but those gaps have been identified now, and require a little discussion before they can be finished;
3 – Distribution of the text to the other collaborators.  I did this by writing the text in a wiki. It worked well for this piece in particular, as it involved a lot of linked text;
4 – Agreement by all interested parties on a timeline for the next deliverables.  I’m calling victory on this one, thought it is not in the can yet.  We’ve all communicated about it, but the other principles need to do a little more review before they can commit to the next date.  Perfectly understandable, and reasonable to call it Done when all that’s missing is a next date, which should come tomorrow-ish.

My big takeaway for this week is that I need to make sure that when I eastablish success criteria for the S.Q.U.I.D. test, they need to be criteria I can deliver without third-party dependencies.  Stick to what I can control, and I stand a better chance of getting the Thing Done.

I can’t talk yet about the specifics of the game, but this portion I am working on is an aspect of character generation that serves to add some fun to the process in what I think is a unique way, while serving as an example to prospective GMs for a way they can take the basic chargen task and make it more entertaining.

Details as soon as they can be shared.  But for now, Applause! Thing Two is Done.

Thing Two – Lunar Kitsch Missile #52WoD

Posted by & filed under Gaming & Design.

It’s Week 2 of my 52 Weeks of Done. And it’s time to lay out some ground rules. I’ll sum them up at the end, for now I’ll demonstrate them in action.

Thing : Lunar Kitsch Missile – Text Contribution, Review & Punt
Type : Game Design / Writing
Size : Scattered, Smothered and Covered
Description : Lunar Kitsch Missile is a game I’ve been working on with two other contributors, off and on, for several months. I have some text contributions of my own that need to be completed, and some of my existing text needs to be revised. I also need to reconcile some of what’s been written by one other contributor to what I have, and then punt the revised text to the contributors for comment and additional revision.
S.Q.U.I.D. Test : This Thing will not be Done until the following tasks are complete

  1. A finished first draft of my text contributions
  2. Reconciliation of my own contributions to those of the other contributors
  3. Distribution of the reconciled text to the other contributors for review
  4. Agreement between interested parties on a timeline for the next deliverable

Lunar Kitsch Missile is one of those projects that’s gotten pushed aside a few too many times over the past few months. It’s floated to the top of the stack for several reasons : There are other people involved that are interested in seeing some progress, there’s a convention coming up this year where I want to demo the game, I need to free up the mental space this is taking up so I can work on other things, and it’s just a really cool, fun project that I enjoy working on (when I work on it). Plus, I think that it’s an easy win for 52WoD – It has well defined success criteria, that are suitably sized for the time in which I have to work on it (it meets the Limit that I’ve defined), and it’s a project that’s half-completed already, so it clearly has some direction behind it. I think it’s important to me to get a good success in early for 52 Weeks, to help me build momentum.

Now, let’s talk just a bit about those ground rules I set up. They pertain specifically to the Kick Off Post that will begin each Week.

1 – Weeks run from Monday to Sunday. It fits my own rhythm better to wrap up on Sunday and start new work on Monday.
2 – The Kick Off Post describes the Thing being done, the Type of the Thing, the Size of the Thing (expressed in Waffle House Hash Brown Units (Imperial), or WHHBUIs), a brief Description of the Thing, and most importantly, the S.Q.U.I.D. Test.
3 – The S.Q.U.I.D. Test is important enough to warrant more than one rule.
4 – The S.Q.U.I.D. Test refers to the success criteria for the Thing – ways to determine if the Thing has been Done. Criteria for the S.Q.U.I.D. Test must be Specific, Quantifiable, Understandable, Intelligent and Deliverable.

That will have to do for now. I’ve hit the Limit for this Post.

Week One Wrapup

Posted by & filed under Floatsam.

Well, it’s the end of the first week of 52 Weeks of Done.  Time to talk about what got Done this week.

My task was to create a Space in which I could get things done.  I had left this conceptually undefined, but had initial visions of heavy rearrangement of furniture, building walls, setting up a tumblr, a youtube channel, and more.

Then I got the plague, and got discouraged, and finally eeked out a kickoff post on Thursday, in which I declared that I would, in fact, Do Something.

In this case, something amounted to some purging, organizing and desk clearing.  And earlier this evening, I declared victory.  I have made a Space.  It is Done.

Did I take before and after pictures? No. I should have. Maybe some of it was being vain, but in truth I was halfway done before I remembered, and now I am in bed and I’m not going down there just for that.  But, suffice to say, where once there was an enormous jumble of gaming supplies, unopened bills, half-soldered projects and stuff I didn’t really need anyway, now there are a few scant but precious square feet of open desk space – enough to hold a laptop, a notebook, a cup of tea and a totem. Everything I need to start the next week.

It’s not pretty, but it is Something.  And that’s a damn sight better that whining about how I was too sick to build walls.

Morning, and Week 2, comes early.  Night then.

Kicking off 52 Weeks Of Done With A Sneeze

Posted by & filed under News.

I was excited as the new year rolled in. Subdued, but still looking forward to a year of getting things Done. I saw the calendar reset whileshowing Short Round the original Tron and dozing off on the couch. It’s like I am an old guy or something.

I woke up January First with a head full of wrong, like the mucus gnomes snuck in and filled my sinuses with 32 ounces of liquid nails. I took Short Round to the airport, went home, and slept for something like five days.

Has it really been five days? Wow.

In my brief waking interludes, I reflected on 52 Weeks Of Done, and that all important S in SPLAT : Space.

I cannot get things Done without a Space. A Space for getting things Done will be made. Making this Space will be the first thing that is Done.

I spent days in the run up to the new year purging my place of things long stored. Records for a friend who fled the bay for LA. Comics for a friend who fled his space for a slightly smaller space. And a whole multitude of things held on to for too long because they might be useful someday. But I had more purging to do, and more work to do, if I was going to create the Space I intended.

Then five days happened, with the liquid nails and the sinuses, and I’m staring down the end of the first week, and not only don’t I have a chicken in the pot, I haven’t even build the hen-house. In layman’s terms, I’m five days behind schedule already, and I’m only five days in.

So, folks, we find ourselves at a very early cross-roads with 52 Weeks of Done. And I may as well use this as a chance to talk about What To Do When Things Ain’t Going Right. The way I see it, you’ve only got so many options.

Option 1 – Do Something.

Option 2 – Do Nothing.

Everything else is a variant on one of these two options. Allow me to demonstrate.

“I want to do this right, so I’m going to do this later.” That’s Do Nothing.

“I want to do this right, so I’m going to push the date back and keep working on it.” That’s Do Something.

“I’m upset that this isn’t turning out and I’m only getting started.” That’s Do Nothing.

“I don’t have time left to do what I wanted, so I’m doing this instead.” That’s Do Something.

“I need to think about this some more.” That’s Do Nothing.

And so on.

The end result is, I’m only just feeling a little human, I’m 5 days behind, and I don’t yet have a Space in which to get things Done. So, what do I do?

I’m going to Do Something. I may not have the Space I wanted when I’m Done, but I will have a Space. Even if that’s just re-clearing my desk and not moving the desk into a walled off niche with the amontillado. Some part of Space was also intended to be the creation of a format for the posts that follow : The kick off post, the update, the wrap up. There are other senses of Space which are still undefined, but in my head. There will still be a wrap-up post on the week, but for now, this will have to do for the kick off.

Should this experience be an omen of the 52 Weeks To Come, then I hope a favorable interpretation of the omen will prevail.