The Nucleartech Diaries

Game Chef 2008

2008-05-16T11:39:00Z

Just a quick heads up for anyone who reads this and doesn't check my Dread Fuzzy Designs LJ account that the results for this years Game Chef 2008 design contest are out. I didn't win the whole thing (unsurprisingly) but I did get an honourary award! I'm well chuffed.

Ascendancy

2008-05-15T19:28:21Z

So I've developed a new project recently; I'm building a prototype boardgame to playtest it for a designer based here in the UK. First a little background. As some of you are probably aware I spend a certain amount of time perusing a website called Board Game Geek, by far the best website in the world dedicated to board and card gaming. It's also one of the coolest, most interactive sites I've ever seen with almost all content user generated. But I digress. I use the Geek (as it is known) to do a fair amount of research on potential purchases before I consider dropping any money on them and it hasn't steered me wrong yet). I also try to keep abreast of games in development to see what cool, new things are on the horizon.

One of the games that I've been keeping an eye on since early this year is Ascendancy, a game with a sci-fi theme that has nothing to do with the old 4X computer game of the same name (I know, I was disappointed too!) Now, I love me a space/sci-fi theme in a game and this is just one of a few that I'm keeping an eye on, the others being Supernova and Galactic Emperor (which I may have been weak enough to pre-order...) But back to the point. Just recently the designer of Ascendancy put out a call for anyone interested in playtesting the game and willing to assemble it themselves from pdfs and whatever they have lying around. I decided 'what the hell' and signed up.

I now, after an email exchange with said designer (Nigel Buckle for the curious among you), have a whole raft of printouts sitting on my desk ready to be turned into cards, counters and map tiles. Plus I have to figure out what to use for a mammoth load of different markers that don't come in the pdfs. All in all it's a slightly daunting prospect but also pretty cool. I already did a home made version of the expansion for Vanished Planet which was fun, although far less work than Ascendancy promises to be, so I have some small notion of what I'm letting myself in for. This should keep me occupied for awhile though.

Still, once I'm done I'll have a copy of an unreleased game that I will, with the help of thoughtfulwolf and the rest of my gaming group, get to playtest and, hopefully, influence the final version of. Cool!

Where in the world in nuclear_powered?

2008-05-13T12:06:36Z

Ahem, right here. Honest. It’s weird, I’ve been active on LJ for ages now but I’ve only really been using it for commenting on other people’s entries, not making my own. I’m not sure why, perhaps laziness? That would be pretty typical.

So what’s going on in the world of me? I’m back at work these days as a contractor working for what was Project Services and s now VT Nuclear Services, PS having been bought out by VT Group earlier this year. I’m working part time for more per hour than I was and I’m actually quite enjoying it. Sure it can be boring on a day to day basis as there isn’t always a lot of work on but when I do have something happening (which is more often than not to be honest) then it tends to be quite interesting. It’s good to get my brain stimulated again and, quite frankly, the extra money is bloody useful!

Of course it all means that I’ve had to start using my Limited Company, Dread Fuzzy Designs Ltd., properly for the last few months. I nearly drowned in confusion trying to figure out my year end taxes but got there in the end. Now I have to sort out PAYE for this year ASAP before HMRC start breathing down my neck. One for this week that is.

And speaking of DFD Ltd. I’ve been progressing the other side of that business as well recently. Anarchy is coming along slowly but it is progressing and I recently entered Game Chef 2008 and completed my game (currently titled The Three Clans, although that will likely change) on time. I’m now involved in the critiquing portion of the competition but the whole thing should be coming to a close soon. For more on that side of my business you’d do better checking my dread_fuzzy LJ account, which I keep semi-up-to-date.

Other than that life is ticking along. I still spend my Friday (and often Saturday) nights gaming, although I now actually have a roleplaying group on Fridays! We’re playing some traditional 3.5 Ed. D&D and I’m really enjoying it. It’s wonderful to be able to indulge my hobby outside of conventions again. Plus when that doesn’t happen (and on the Saturdays) I’m getting plenty of board gaming in. I can only thank thoughtfulwolf for reintroducing me to the world of board games, previously left behind when I was a child. It’s amazing how far game design has come in that sphere in the past 10 or 15 years, truly amazing.

Procrastination's what you need...

2008-03-26T20:23:49Z

Meme pinched from missdeathmetal and novicejeweller

Bold the things you've done
Add three of your own

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said "I love you" and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had/Have amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater and saw Smokey and the Bandit
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in a Rocky Horror Picture Show
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking All the time
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication Not yet, but I'm working on it
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Broken a bone
113. Gone on an African photo safari
114. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
115. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
116. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
117. Ridden a horse and fell off
118. Had major surgery
119. Had a snake as a pet
120. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
121. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
122. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
123. Visited all 7 continents
124. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
125. Eaten kangaroo meat
126. Eaten sushi
127. Had your picture in the newspaper
128. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
129. Gone back to school
130. Parasailed
131. Touched a cockroach
132. Eaten fried green tomatoes
133. Read "The Iliad"
134. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
135. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
136. Skipped all your school reunions
137. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
138. Been elected to public office
139. Written your own computer language
140. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
141. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
142. Built your own PC from parts
143. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
144. Had a booth at a street fair
145. Dyed your hair
146. Been a DJ
147. Shaved your head
148. Caused a car accident
149. Saved someone’s life
150. Gotten a seven letter word in Scrabble.
151. Written a fan letter.
152. Put a fist through a window.
153. Traveled on the Staten Island ferry
154. Met someone famous up close
155. Been in a graveyard at midnight
156. Changed your own oil
157. Saved an animal's life
158. Driven all night
159. Been in a hot tub with members of the opposite sex
160. Travelled on the Star Ferry in Hong Kong
161. Seen pandas in real life
162. Had a completely perfect day
163. Proposed to someone - and been accepted
164. Crawled over a ravine deep underground

And now mine:
165. Walked across the charge face of a nuclear reactor
166. Read Stephen Hawkins 'A Brief History Of Time' cover to cover... and understood it
167. Participated in a live demonstration to save a TV show (Farscape in London in my case)

I got meme'd!

2008-02-09T08:40:54Z

Tagged by missdeathmetal to do this meme:

A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it".

1. I really enjoy cooking, even though I have zero 'traditional' knowledge on the subject and usually just make it all up as I go along.
2. I'm a total geek and really enjoy tabletop roleplaying games and board/card games.
3. I have my own limited company called Dread Fuzzy Designs Ltd.
4. I still want to be an astronaut.
5. I hate eggs, mushrooms, fish, baked beans and tomatoes and I wish that I didn't.
6. I was a good little Christian school boy growing up.
7. I split my head open on the last day of school when I was 5. There was a lot of blood and getting your scalp stitched together feels weird. I did get Battlecat as a present though so it was all okay.

I now tag:
novicejeweller (or alwaysuncertain, whichever you want to use for this), amyrlin1271, gbsteve, ginasketch, littlestkobold, boxninja and nebhead.

Sick. Again.

2007-12-19T11:03:33Z

I'll tell you what, I'm getting really gorram tired of getting sick so much at the moment. It isn't funny and it needs to stop universe. You hear me? No more uncontrollable shivering fits thanks, and I don't even want to discuss flaying my throat raw when heaving up black/grey liquid bile at 4 am (and 7 am for that matter). I wouldn't mind so much if this were a one off but damn, I've been ill so many times since the weekend before Dragonmeet that it's just getting silly. I think my immune system is on vacation or something. As are my knees.

And now for Mr Pratcehtt

2007-12-12T16:17:00Z

Well fuck. Fuck. Fuck Fuck FUCK!

Ahem.

So, today's good (if bitter-sweet) news about about Brandon Sanderson being selected to finish the Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan's tragic passing in September has just been swept away quite brutally with news that Terry Pratchett, one of the greatest living authors of comedic and satirical fantasy (hell, one of the greatest ever, possibly the greatest) has been diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's. Link below:

http://www.paulkidby.com/news/index.html

Not a good year for one of my favourite genres of literature :o(

Farewell Mr Jordan... Welcome Mr Sanderson

2007-12-12T09:57:18Z

So, Robert Jordan, author of the hugely successful Wheel of Time series, passed away on September 16th. I didn't post about it at the time, I wasn't really posting on LJ then, but it deeply affected me. I discovered the WoT books in my first year at university after my nan died; she owned the first 7 books (number 8 hadn't come out yet at that point) and I kinda inherited them on the basis that my parents had bought them for her in the first place and I love me some Sci-Fi and fantasy when I'm reading. I went through all 7 books in very little time, seriously damaging my attempts to revise for my post-Christmas exams that year (not that it mattered, it being the 1st year and all) and fell in love with the series. Ever since then I've been following the series and was once a very active member of one of the 2 biggest WoT sites on the internet, wotmania. Indeed, it was through there that I met my wife and it was a huge part of my life for a couple of years, I still have friends from there now. So you could say that I have a lot to thank Robert Jordan for (or possibly to curse him for, depending on your point of view ;o) .)

Anyway, back to the point. His passing affected me greatly, I still get slightly teary-eyed reading about it now. I know that a lot of people trash his writing and the lack of plot movement, especially in the later books of the series, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. Besides, in the last couple of books it had really begun to pick up again and plot threads were being resolved left, right and centre. You could really feel the momentum building towards Memory of Light, the final book. And then he died. Ouch.

Now his 'replacement' has been chosen. I say replacement, the honest truth is that no one could ever replace the man behind the Wheel of Time and I don't think that anyone would ever try. His widow, Harriet, has, however, now selected the author who will finish the series on behalf of the departed Mr Jordan. His name is Brandon Sanderson and I've never heard of him before and, to be honest, I think that's probably a good thing. Besides, as someone commented on the thread on RPGnet, at least is isn't Kevin J Anderson! Having a little look at Brandon Sanderson and reading the Tor announcement it seems that he is a relatively new author with a small number of critically acclaimed fantasy novels under his belt. He's also a huge fan of the series and it was one of the chief influences that shaped his writing career. There's a nice interview done by Jason at Dragonmeet up there. His comments on Asmodean and Moiraine certainly predispose me towards liking him anyway.

So, there's hope yet for the series to be finished and the plot threads and stories to all of those characters that I alternately love and find infuriating to be tied up. Today, the world seems a slightly brighter place, although the news is bitter sweet as it once more reminds me of the passing of one of my best loved authors.

Peace.

Rock 'n' fuckin' roll!

2007-12-07T21:20:49Z

(Well, not really, but I'll get to that in a bit.)

So, you know how there's always someone with tenuous links to a relevant celebrity for some event or other? This time I was that someone! novicejeweller's best friend George (short for Georgina if you're curious) is married to a guy named Troy. He's nice enough, master farrier by trade, never spoken to him much myself as I don't tend to go around there. He's also best mates with Sean, the drummer from the Manic Street Preachers, and goes to see their gigs all the time, usually for free.

Last night (Thursday 6th December 2007) they were playing the CIA in Cardiff, one of the bigger dates on their tour given their nationality and history, and Troy decided to get together a big group of people to go down. I'm not sure how many of us there were in the end but I think it might have been 15 or more. This included myself and novicejeweller as well as alawston and his other half Anna. I invited him along (with permission from Troy and George, naturally) as I know he's a huge Manics fan (in fact he'd seen them earlier on this tour at Reading.)

Anyway, we all gathered at Troy and George's place somewhere in the wilds of Chipping Sodbury (see alawston, it does exist :op ) before setting out, convoy style, for Cardiff. Man that was an interesting drive... the weather was fucking foul; dark, wet and very, very windy. It was a horrible night to be trying to convoy like that but my car made it to the car park in Cardiff without too many incidents (well, one of the other cars reversed into me coming out of Troy and George's drive, which was a bit ridiculous, and I couldn't actually see more than a couple of cars in front of my on the mototrway for the entire journey but other than that...), although man was that a hairy drive. I don't want to do that again any time soon!

From there we walked to the CIA, getting drenched along the way, and inside. Troy collected out (FREE) tickets and a bunch of pink wristbands, the usage of which was not immediately clear to us, and in we went. We got ourselves drinks (water for me, I was driving), wandered in and joined the edge of the crowd. The gig was AWESOME. I'm not the worlds biggest Manics fan and have been too lazy to buy any of their albums since 'Everything Must Go' but I have always enjoyed them and really liked their earlier stuff. I've never seen them live before though. They were fucking loving it! And it showed, their stage presence was great, although there wasn't a lot of crowd banter, just big song after big song. My personal favourite was when they launched into 'Slash and Burn' from the 'Generation Terrorists' album, but as I say I'm a sucker for their earlier stuff.

Eventually the set ended (predictably with 'Design For Life,' not that I'm complaining, it's a great track) and people started filing out. It was at this point that George informed us (wearing her AAA [Access All Areas] pass to match Troy's) that the pink wristbands were to get us into the after show party! Naturally novicejeweller had already wandered outside for a fag without hers at this point so there was a bit of a panic before she wandered in wearing a new one; Troy had found and rescued her rather drunk self after being informed of the situation by George. Phew! I was extremely relieved to have my wife back.

We went upstairs and wandered into the party. It was all very civilised (no crazy rock and roll excess I'm sorry to report) but very cool and showbiz. James Dean Bradfield and Sean were around, although Nicky Wire didn't show up which is a shame cos he's a real character. I mostly chilled out (with more water) and accompanied my drunk wife and 2 friends but there was an amusing moment where alawston noticed Sean talking to Troy and George (like I say, they're best friends) and went up to be all squeaky and fanboy-ish at him. He kinda nearly choked and was hovering at the edge of the conversation until novicejeweller strolled over there, put her arm around him and (with all of the confidence that too much alcohol and having met Sean a few times when round visiting George instils in a person) broke into the conversation and introduced alawston in the subtlest of ways.

It was all cool though, alawston got his picture taken with Sean and we went back and sat and chilled until it was time to go. Thankfully it had stopped raining whilst we were inside so the drive back was quite easy (I could see more than 2 cars in front of me on the motorway, that was a major improvement!) We got back here at 1 am or thereabouts having had a great night and a wonderful time. I'm glad that I went and shall have to thank Troy and George again next time that I see them.

Awesome.

Dragonmeet 2007 (is it a Tradition yet?)

2007-12-03T11:24:54Z

So, yeah, it's been awhile since I updated, I'm crap, blah blah blah (and for various people, yes, I just lost), etc.

It's now time for my yearly Dragonmeet report (remember, if I do it this year it becomes a Tradition™ so I will be forced to go every year, just so that I can write a report.)

I went to Dragonmeet. I got sick. Again. I came home. The end.

Okay, okay, more detail :op

I wasn't sure whether I'd even make it down this year, what with novicejeweller and I being in the grip of some kind of major financial crisis. Luckily for me thoughtfulwolf has spare cash, a generous nature and a severe dislike of driving on long journeys. What that translated to was him being willing to pay for myself and Darren (attending his first con) to go as long as I did the driving. All good, Dragonmeet 2007 was on!

Some more back-story first though. I was ill the weekend prior to Dragonmeet. In fact I was ill at a low level for most of the preceding week, although it had died down to a blocked nose and accompanying sinus headaches by the Wednesday. Indeed, I was feeling pretty much okay by the Friday. Until I tried to sleep. I put it down to nerves (and by the time I woke up at 5:30 am I felt fine again) but I felt sick on Friday night when I was trying (and frequently failing) to sleep.

Anyway, Saturday and Dragonmeet came around. I was up at 5:30 am, thoughtfulwolf got here at about 6:10 am and we were out the door by about 6:40 am, with Cam and Finn in tow. I headed to my sister-in-law's (a journey that is, barring a detour to actually get to her house at junction 17 of the M4 basically on the way) and we got there at around 7:20 am to drop off the smaller kids, remove one of the car seats and stop crushing thoughtfulwolf in the back. From there it was a drive to Reading, a train to Paddington and a tube to High Street Kensington followed by standing outside for about 15 minutes (well, for Darren and myself, thoughtfulwolf is a demo-Bunny for Loony Labs so gets in a) free and b) early, although misses out on the swag bag at the door, muwahahahahahahaha!) The wait was made somewhat more interesting by observing Graham Walmsley engaging in anti-marketing outside, dressed in a suit, handing out fliers promoting traditional RPGs and waving placards with slogans such as 'Ban the Collective Endeavour' and 'Play Safe, Not Unsafe.' Amusing, although I did give littlestkobold a quick ring to see if it was one of the CE as I've not actually met Graham IRL before so wasn't certain if it was him or not. I was right, I felt vindicated and everything ;o) .

Anyway, the doors opened more-or-less on time and we went inside. The first thing we did was to check out the games that were being run in the morning slot. The Cthulhu games (which Darren wanted to play) we already fully booked up so we signed up to a 1/2 hour demo of Fear Itself (I think... for some reason I keep getting the name confused) at midday run by gbsteve. I also got to say hi to Dee, one of my old roleplaying group from back in Croydon who was once again acting as a gopher this year. It was very cool to see her again, I loved that RP group :o) .

Anyway, once we'd done that we wandered over to the Collective Endeavour stand to say hi to littlestkobold and some of the rest of the CE crew and well, I'm not sure where the time went (I know we went downstairs to say hi to thoughtfulwolf and the other bunnies but other than that I don't recall actually doing much), but I suddenly realised that it was 10:30, time for the game design seminar with Luke Crane, Jared Sorenson and, it turned out, Fred Hicks. There was no way I was going to miss that! So, I left Darren to it (he wasn't interested) and headed over there.

It was very cool to see those guys in action and damn but Luke is full of manic energy all of the freaking time! I liked that their first action was to just remove the tables set up for the to sit behind and 'preside' over the audience. It was a nice touch, although one that would have been lost on 90% of the eventual audience as almost everyone turned up late. Anyway, they started off talking about the 'Big 3' questions (you know, what is your game about, how is it about that, how do you reward the players) and going through them for some example games, primarily D&D but there were some audience thrown out examples as well, the most interesting probably being Traveller. After that they went into some detail getting those questions answered for a couple of games from the audience, a process that was very interesting to watch. Sadly by the time they'd done those two games it was virtually midday and I had to duck out early to go and play the demo with Darren. Still, I'm glad that I went; it was definitely a worthwhile experience.

So, onto Fear Itself. Darren and I had time to grab a quick drink before the demo started (and I had to go and grab Graham who was doing a bit of a book signing for a fan and had forgotten that he'd signed up for the demo) but then we were in. gbsteve has been working on the Gumshoe system demos a lot since last years Dragonmeet where I know that he wasn't that satisfied with the Esoterrorists demo (and nor was I, as I wrote in my report for that year) and it did show. I wont give away the entire scenario but it brought out pretty much all aspects of the system in a successful manner and showed how they worked and interacted. Darren had fun too, I know because he told me ^_^ .

Speaking of which, I'm not 100% certain what Darren got up to whilst I was in the seminar but I know that it involved a demo of Piledrivers and Powerbombs by Joe Prince, which he really enjoyed (so much so that thoughtfulwolf didn't buy him the game for Christmas and I didn't get it signed by Joe, really, honest guv... Ahem.)

After Fear Itself we went for lunch because, well, we were hungry! It was Darren, thoughtfulwolf, littlestkobold, the aforementioned Joe of Prince of Darkness games and myself. We headed down to Prett as it was just gone 1 pm and Darren and I were signed up to the Dark Heresy demo at 2 pm so we didn't really have time for Wagamamas (sadly). Thanks must, I should add, go to Dee at this point. She knew how much I (and Darren) wanted to play in that demo so she signed us up as soon as the sheet materialised. Sometimes it's good to be friends with a gopher ^_^ . Lunch was nice enough, although nothing too special (Prett's hot meatball wrap thingie was pretty good though) but it was here that the day started to go wrong for me. I got cold. Cold as in 'why the hell am I shivering, it's a bit chilly out but not that bad' and 'okay, I'm inside, in the warm, everyone else is fine, why the fuck am I still shivering' cold. That didn't bode well but I figured if I warmed up I'd be okay.

Oh, I should probably mention that on the way to lunch I got a message on my phone from novicejeweller saying 'you need to call me. Now.' As attention getters go a message like that from your wife ranks pretty highly. Needless to say I called her immediately and discovered that my sister-in-law, the one who I had left our small children with, had gone into labour 2 months early and was in the hospital! There, obviously, wasn't a whole lot that I could do about it at that point and it turned out that the plan was for my mother-in-law to head over there, look after the kids for the day and then drop all 4 (yes, that's my 2 nieces as well as my 2 sons) off at ours at about 5 pm. The joy! ~shudders~

After lunch Darren and I wandered around the trade hall, I bought him a dice bomb and then we got some tea and headed down to the Dark Heresy demo table. I was still feeling unreasonably cold. I was pleased to see that the DH demo was being run by the same guy who had run the 'sweet meat' WFRP game at Conceptions in February, he's a good con GM and I like his style, even if his name escapes me. The game was good and I enjoyed it but I don't feel able to give a decent description of it. You see, as the game went on I started suffering (mostly tightly controlled) shivering fits, then the tips of my fingers became noticeably numb, next I started to feel more and more queasy until, at around 4 pm (the game had begun at 2 pm) I had to apologise and flee the table. I ran to the blokes loos (and my god was I thankful that thoughtfulwolf was passing to direct me) where I heaved up lunch, breakfast and last nights dinner. It was not good. I was, in fact, sick. Again. Damnit!

Needless to say that cut the convention short for the 3 of us travelling together. We said our goodbyes and I phoned Steph to figure out what was happening with kids and Dax. I got Jay. Jay's lovely but he isn't very useful and novicejeweller was out at the shop so I figured I'd call again later. So, short tube journey (thankfully) followed by 1/2 an hour on the train from Paddington to Reading. That nearly finished me off. The swaying and rocking was giving me stomach cramps. Still, at some point my phone beeped to tell my I had a text message, it was from O2 telling me I had voicemail. I assumed that novicejeweller had tried calling me when the train was at a point of no reception so I called her back. Turned out I was going to have to pick up our boys after all but that we wouldn't be having the girls as well. So, good and bad with the good VASTLY outweighing the bad.

Anyway, long story short, I drove us back from Reading, via my sister-in-law's (who was back home, having being given anti-going-into-labour-drugs), to Bristol without crashing the car and killing everyone, which was something of a feat at that point. I really did enjoy Dragonmeet 2007, I just wish it hadn't ended so badly and that I'd had more of a chance to mingle at the CE stand. As it was I spent yesterday feeling like shit as well and am only just starting to feel a bit better today. Stupid illness.

Roll on Dragonmeet 2008!

BSG S4 Preview!

2007-10-14T08:22:46Z

Okay, I wont talk about it due to potential spoilers (okay, not so potential...) for those who haven't seen S3 yet but the preview trailer for the final season of BSG is now up:

BSG S4 Preview Trailer

And she's still walking!?!

2007-10-03T19:44:28Z

So, here's a new pic of Steph's knee some 5 days after the fact, it ain't pretty:

Bizarrely it's not actually had much of an affect on her ability to walk, she just bruises really impressively.

Interests meme cribbed from Missdeathmetal

2007-10-03T09:37:36Z

Comment on this post. I will choose seven interests from you profile and you will explain what they mean and why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so others can play along.

I'm going to take 3 of these together, seeing as they're inter-related:

The Mountain Witch, Weapons of the Gods and Polaris

These are all role playing games. They are not that well known and certainly don't have the popular appeal of something like D&D but in my opinion they are all excellent. tMW and Polaris are both products of the Forge school of design (at a simplified level anyway) whereas WotG is more Rebecca Borgstrom let loose in a magical, kung-fu setting; something that will likely excite anyone who is a fan of both Nobilis and Wushu! Basically they are 3 role playing games that I like and admire for various reasons and are just some of a number of rpgs on my interests list. tMW is most noted for it's innovative use of trust mechanics and Polaris for it's radical (and IMO excellent) key phrase negotiation system.

Dragons

They're dragons, I mean c'mon, who doesn't think dragons are cool? It's like asking someone why LASERS! are cool, they just are. Maybe it helps if you're as big a fan of fantasy as I am?

Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is a very singular author with a style all of his own. He's probably best known for his Sandman comics, although I've only ever read the first collection in that series myself. I'm a big fan of his work and have a number of his books and I think that his reworking of Snow White in the Smoke and Mirrors collection is by far the most compelling version of that tale I have ever read.

Egypt

I've always had an interest in ancient history, ancient civilisations, etc. and Egypt is one of the most famous and intriguing of those. It probably helps that Steph and I went to Egypt for our honeymoon as well. We flew into Luxor and did a 7 day cruise up and down the Nile to Aswan and back to Luxor, visiting many historic sites along the way, including a trip into the desert to see (the relocated) Abu Simbel, before flying up to Cairo where we stayed for 3 days and saw (among other things) the Great Pyramids. It was an a magical, wondrous holiday and I've been in love with Egypt ever since.

Nintendo

Ah, Nintendo, how I miss thee. I've been a Nintendo fanboy for almost as long as I can remember. I started off with an original Gameboy back in primary school and it wasn't long before my parents got my brother and I a NES for Christmas with Super Mario Bros. 3 (still one of the finest 2D platformers of all time.) It was quite soon after that that the SNES was released and my brother and I pooled our hard earned to get one, with Super Mario World, probably the greatest 2D platformer ever produced, bar none. We gathered a massive collection of SNES games between us and played that thing into the ground. After that the N64 came out and I bought myself one and fell in love with such classics and Goldeneye, Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. It was around the time I left uni that my love affair with Nintendo ended, not through choice you understand, just through lack of time. Still, I've passed my obsession onto Darren and Jay who both and a Gamecube each, and Wii each and a DS each and play them regularly. I have a DS Lite myself although rarely get a chance to play it, which is a shame. What I still love about Nintendo is their drive towards innovation and gameplay instead of just more and shinier versions of the same damn thing.

She's a 17 year old jeweller and saleswoman...

2007-10-01T17:11:52Z

...he's a 15 year old nuclear scientist and games designer, they fight crime! Or, y'know, get ID'd randomly by crazy people in positions of limited and petty authority... In bizarro-land!

Okay, let me start at the beginning, before I confuse you even more. A couple of weeks ago Darren had a careers fair at his school on a Friday evening and he asked me to go along with him. So I'm there, a 28 year old who hasn't been clean shaven in months, with my 15 year old step-son and we're at the booth for some local college or other. Darren's asked about science courses and the guy behind the booth turns to me and starts to ask what I'm interested in doing. I give him a look. It's a look containing so much distilled disdain, incredulity and sardonic amusement that he stops in his tracks and stutters out something about me obviously not being a student and we move off. A few minutes later at a booth for another college the guy there looks at me as I approach with Darren and opens his mouth to begin talking. I give him the same look that I gave the other guy and he mutters something unintelligible before turning to talk to Darren. I don't know whether to be insulted or amused to be honest!

Now, I didn't think too much of it at the time but something happened today that made me remember it, and made Steph's day. We were in Tesco doing our shopping, we'd picked up everything and I headed out to the car to begin stuffing things in the boot whilst Steph went to pick up some cigarettes. I run into her as I'm returning the trolley and she's standing there with a look of shocked disbelief on her face and a satisfied smile playing across her lips. It turns out that today is the day that it became illegal to buy cigs if you're under 18 and the fifty-something old bat behind the cigarette counter had asked Steph for ID! Now I know it's rude to reveal a woman's age but for the purposes of comparison she's 31. 31! You can see why she was so pleased.

What have these people been smoking... and can I have some?

The weekend in review

2007-09-30T20:21:43Z

Okay, I'll be honest with myself, I'm FAR too lazy to do a review of the whole weekend (and who would want to read it anyway?) So instead I'll stick to the salient points.

1) We were sans all kids but Finn come Friday evening. Cam and Jay had gone to Dax's and Darren went out to a local gig then slept around at a friends house. Finn even obligingly went to sleep nice and early.

2) This allowed thoughtfulwolf and I to break out his newest gaming acquisition, Twightlight Struggle, a card driven game encompassing the entire cold war struggle for influence and global domination between the USA and the USSR. It was AWESOME. I played the Soviets and scored a comparatively easy victory in the end but damn was that fun. Sadly as a 2-player game it will likely not see a lot of play here as there's usually at least 3 people gaming. Still, it was an extremely worthwhile purchase IMO. A damn fine game.

3) After thoughtfulwolf had left (at the disgustingly early time of about 22:45) there was a bit of an accident. I was on here surfing the net and putting off sleep when Finn woke up. Steph got up with him and apparently tripped over when carrying him out of his room. At that point natural instincts kick in to preserve the baby. The result of such natural instincts can be seen below:

That is Steph's knee (and her corresponding elbow doesn't look great either.) Ouch! It looks worse today too, much more red, dried blood visible under the skin. Plus that photo was taken showing the least damaged side of the joint.

4) Erm, other than that it's been a pretty uneventful weekend really so there's not much else to say.

OE update

2007-09-27T12:35:49Z

Okay, got all of my mails back now and re-set-up my directory structure. Sometimes I think that computers were created to torment us and make our lives needlessly complex.

Crush, kill, destroy!

2007-09-27T11:09:31Z

I hate Outlook Express. Why? It just corrupted my Inbox folder... including all of the sub-folders. Now I'm having to use an extraction tool to get all of the emails out as .eml files and then drag and drop them into new folders that I'm creating in my new OE Inbox folder. I so don't need this waste of fucking time!

~Grumbles~

Dr Jekyll and Mr Car

2007-09-24T09:41:37Z

Two (totally unrelated) things today.

1) Steph and I watched the BBC series Jekyll last night. thoughtfulwolf lent us the Season 1 DVD and we sat and went through the entire thing. I enjoyed it very much although felt that, given the subject matter and dark, tense, suspenseful nature of the show, they were a touch reluctant to actually kill anyone. Still, a very interesting retelling of the tale with a neat twist at the end setting it up for next season (assuming that such a thing gets made). It scared the crap out of Steph but, other than the first episode (which I felt was far more atmospheric than the rest), it never got me in that manner. I did, however, enjoy the mystery as it unfolded and Nesbitt's portrayal of the two personalities was very well done. He has a tendency to star in things that have no thematic interest to me so that I don't watch them but he is, in spite of that, a bloody good actor.

2) My sodding car is falling apart! Again! I was on my way to take Cam and Finn to school/nursery this morning and thought the rear view mirror was off a touch, reached up to adjust it (I'd thought it a bit loose the last couple of days, I figure someone whacked it) and the bloody thing fell off! It's not just a reattachment job either, the stem has actually snapped. Bastard car. It's gonna be another 3 or 4 days before I can get a replacement fitted too. I really didn't need that ~sighs~

facebook

2007-09-23T00:28:46Z

So... missdeathmetal convinced me to join facebook today. If anyone feels like talking to me over there too then feel free!

Where does the time go?

2007-09-11T17:55:51Z

Okay, so, things have been variously interesting, infuriating, terrifying and, well, I don't even know how to describe the rest.

Right now we're going through something of a financial crisis, a meltdown if you will. I wont go into any details but suffice to say that a combination of Tax Credits deciding to be unremittingly shite, Steph getting pneumonia in August and the time of the year being generically poor for sales has left us in a tight spot. As such we've gone through something of a lifestyle change, enforced by circumstance but something that we should really have done voluntarily a long time ago. Steph and I have given up pretty much everything for us for the time being, no more going out for lunch, no more cinema trips, no more frivolous buys when shopping, all food in economy ranges, etc. The kids have also lost their allowances and will have to work for the pittance we can afford to give them if they want anything. We've cancelled Julian, our dog walker, on every day bar Tuesday (we don't want to take the social contact away from Sabre) and Steph has cut back seriously on smoking and is attempting to give up entirely. All in all it's saving us a fair chunk of money each month and, when combined with the fact that Steph is finally training me up to be useful in the business, it should make the difference. Well, if I were able to train and help it would.

You see the other big one is that Cameron has now started primary school. That's right, he's now at school, not nursery. Where the fuck does the time go!?! Anyway, these days they faze the Reception year kids in s...l...o...w...l...y. Really slowly. As such he's at home a lot of the time right now and will be until after half term, which is leaving me far less time than I'd like to help Steph out, especially as I need to walk the dogs now as well. What time I do have is having to be prioritised towards house work and getting trained up to a useful level on Steph's business so that I can work for her on that. That leaves the game design side of my business sorely neglected but, to be frank, work that makes money has to take priority. Besides, look at how cute Cam is in his new uniform!

Dread Fuzzy Designs

2007-09-05T09:11:48Z

So, I may have mentioned it before or I may not (I know that I have elsewhere on the internet but I'm not sure about here and I'm too lazy to check) but I am currently the director (and sole shareholder) in my own company, Dread Fuzzy Designs Ltd. The stated purpose of the company was, essentially, threefold; to contract with Project Services doing my old job, to work for Steph officially and to give me an outlet to design, produce and sell roleplaying games.

I'm here to talk about the 3rd purpose as it is the one of most importance to me (on a non-financial level at least).

Basically I have finally started up a new blog to talk about my games, the process of designing them, my thoughts on roleplaying and the industry, other cool/not-cool games, etc. I got another blog here on LJ because I know it and it's free and I figured it would probably be sensible to link to it here.

The Dread Fuzzy Blog

I'll try to update it at least once a week and use it (along with The Collective Endeavour) to focus my game design and actually push it forwards.

It's quiet... too quiet...

2007-06-01T13:41:25Z

There's no children in the house, none at all! Darren and Finn are up at Dax's until Sunday, Cameron is at my parents house until tomorrow and Jordan is out and about with friends. I really like the fact that Jay spends so much of his time outside now, it means that he and Darren are fighting one hell of a lot less these days. To those of you without children (especially teenage/near-teenage ones), never, ever underestimate the effect that this will have on your stress levels.

So, yeah, it's good. Very good. Even better is the fact that Steph and I are getting a long weekend away from the 8th to the 11th of June. We're going up to North Wales to just escape for a few days away from the house and the kids and I'm really looking forward to it.

Not only that but this lack of kids is about to give me a chance to fire up that CD of the Anarchy play test session and take some uninterrupted notes to work from. I've also been kicking around ideas in my head for the X-com themed RPG that I've been considering for ages (since before Anarchy actually.) Oh, and I got a call from Morson today; Project Services have finally got off of their arses and placed a call-off contract with them for my services. I can only assume that I'll be getting a call from Caron or Neil sometime soon asking me to come in but I'll have to wait and see.

Now to listen to the horrors of late night play testing and my own voice!

The Night of TOO MUCH TV!

2007-02-22T10:01:56Z

Last night was a good night, finally.

My mum brought Cameron back up yesterday and stayed the night so that Steph and I could go out, which we very studiously did. First we stuck Darren on a train to Dax's so that he could help her out with the 12 pallets of stock that she's bought (!?!) before swinging over to Cribbs. We went for a meal at Frank & Benny's and very nice it was too. We had chicken strips with a gorgeous, spicy tomato sauce and mama's cheese bake (always tasty) for starters and then I had a meatball calzone with herb potatoes and Steph had new york chicken and chips. We followed it all up with dessert, ice cream for me and belgian waffle with toffee and ice cream for Steph. Yum!

After that we went to the cinema where (based soley on recommendations from boxninja and alawston) we watched Hot Fuzz. Oh. My. God. That was fucking hilarious! Gruesome (especially for a 15 cert) but extremely funny with some classic lines, brilliant set-up and wonderfully over-the-top acting. I can now add my name to the list of people who highly recommend that you go and see this film at once! It may be the best film of the year, already (although there's some pretty stiff competition coming up later in the year.) Yes, it's that good.

So what does all of this have to do with the title of this entry? Well, here's the rub. Last night was the worst night of the week that we could have had to go out on! Don't get me wrong, I had a great time and am extremely glad that we went but, well, couldn't it have been a different day ;o) . Seriously, I had to miss Liverpool beating Barcelona 2-1 at the Nou Camp (the only English team to have done so, ever, except, well, Liverpool back in the 75-76 season) AND episode two of the Dresden Files, something that Steph and I have made a conscious decision to start watching. Doh! Too much good TV on the wrong night. Ah well, I'll live.

Hell is the sound of an unspellable name...

2007-02-12T12:38:17Z

I amNyarlathotep!

The 999 forms of Nyarlathotep are a point of meditation for the true initiate. It is through these manifold faces that the secrets of the universe are made known. Called "The Crawling Chaos", Nyarlathotep is the disembodied ego of Azathoth and thus the universal "I" of known reality. Some of the many documented forms are; Father of Knives, Nephren-Ka, the Black Man, the Beast of the Lashing Tongue to name a few.

Which Great Old One are you?

It's over...

2007-02-12T11:33:33Z

Wow, A Miracle of Science has finally finished after a run lasting years. And they're going to put it out as a book, woo hoo! I'd like to thank thoughtfulwolf for putting me onto it (and I'd like to thank the MoS guys for putting me onto Vexxarr for that matter) and would like to close by noting that MoS has been an excellent read and is an amazing example of the potential of web comics for unrelenting coolness. I guess I should check out some of the comics that they've linked to as well huh?