gdp's Comments

Blog of Fate : (Character) Diamond in the Rough

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:31:14 +0000

Game design inspired a lot of this, I admit (the specific placement and meaning of each position reminds me of a character sheet). I had an idea for using this as a basis for a D&D game (each level you can add a trait or move a trait), but nothing fully formed.

Blog of Fate : (Character) Diamond in the Rough

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:28:42 +0000

I got the pingback, but it's not showing up on this page for some reason. For those following along, the link is here: http://synapserpg.com/blog/2010/04/15/dramaturgic... Going to read it now!

Blog of Fate : Rasenna and the Realms

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:24:23 +0000

Sounds more like a DM issue rather than a system issue.

Blog of Fate : (Character) Diamond in the Rough

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:17:26 +0000

Please do!

Blog of Fate : (Character) Diamond in the Rough

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:46:09 +0000

Thank you! I haven't really done an in-depth review of Creating Emotion, because I have such a conflicted opinion about the book. There are a few really cool bits in there, but they're mixed up with a lot of... shall we say... self-referential congratulations.

Blog of Fate : (Character) Diamond in the Rough

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:33:20 +0000

Actually, I haven't heard of that before. That's really fascinating -- do you have any relevant links or books that you could direct me to so I can read up on it?

Blog of Fate : Dialogue Notes

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:46:27 +0000

That's what I recall, yes. Basically, if your characters like each other too much, the dialogue won't feel real, and the reader won't empathize. On the other hand, characters being bastards to each other makes for good reading. Obviously that's heavily simplified, but I really think it's another way of saying "conflict matters."

Blog of Fate : Dialogue Notes

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 23:33:49 +0000

That's pretty true. Generally, tags like "he scowled" or "she screamed" are looked down on in English. They're POSSIBLE, but it's generally better to use the plain "he/she said" or use a gesture.

Blog of Fate : Dialogue Notes

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 23:14:17 +0000

I'm sure you could find instances when that happens, but I think you're right that it doesn't happen often. One question I have, though, is that does it make sense to have that happen in fiction too often? Usually the circumstances in fiction are exception by design, and I think people generally pay more attention to information in extreme cases.

Blog of Fate : Rasenna and the Realms

Fri, 9 Apr 2010 14:47:05 +0000

I've found the opposite -- I'm not nearly as restricted in my roleplay as I was in 3.5. Clearly you haven't had any use of skill challenges in your game. In Rasennen Summer, one entire "encounter" was my character attempting to bluff the bad guys into handing over their hostage. The skill challenge rules are GREAT for giving roleplay teeth and having a meaningful impact on encounter resolution (whereas in 3.5 it was a lot of "roll and hope your DM does something with it").

Blog of Fate : Rasenna and the Realms

Fri, 9 Apr 2010 14:44:53 +0000

Exactly. System can certainly help in reinforcing certain styles of play, but there's often a lot more flex in style in games than comes across in the first read.

Blog of Fate : A Bunch of Shit

Wed, 7 Apr 2010 00:40:29 +0000

I will say that Windows 7 is SO worth it. It spend up my netbook something fierce. And I'm actually poking around with Windows Live Writer now. I didn't even know this thing was on my system. It looks really cool, though.

Blog of Fate : A Bunch of Shit

Wed, 7 Apr 2010 00:38:39 +0000

I also used TftFV to run a Hitchhiker's-style campaign! I think that's why I remembered it so fondly -- it was the closest to a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy RPG as I've ever found.

Blog of Fate : A Bunch of Shit

Wed, 7 Apr 2010 00:20:48 +0000

Hate. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaate.

Blog of Fate : A Bunch of Shit

Wed, 7 Apr 2010 00:20:33 +0000

Hrm. Copying and pasting from OpenOffice works just fine for me when I write Whitechapel. But yeah, if you've already got Word, you probably don't need OpenOffice -- I just didn't want to pay for another MS Office license for my netbook.

Blog of Fate : A Bunch of Shit

Wed, 7 Apr 2010 00:10:29 +0000

I'm with you on Chrome over FireFox and not digging Google Docs. Have you looked at OpenOffice for a high-powered word processor?

Blog of Fate : I Read Fantasy. Just Not The Fantasy You Like.

Tue, 6 Apr 2010 23:59:10 +0000

Pretty much, yeah.

Blog of Fate : A Bunch of Shit

Tue, 6 Apr 2010 23:57:17 +0000

Yeah, I love the gun sizes. I even made a reference to it in Mind's Eye Theatre: The Awakening. :) Let me know what you think of Writemonkey. I'm wondering if it's really an awesome program, or if it just happens to scratch a very specific itch.

Blog of Fate : I Read Fantasy. Just Not The Fantasy You Like.

Mon, 5 Apr 2010 13:10:17 +0000

Let me know what you think!

Blog of Fate : I Read Fantasy. Just Not The Fantasy You Like.

Mon, 5 Apr 2010 13:09:30 +0000

Sure, there are books that I primarily read for the exploration of the world rather than the characters (actually, the James Bond novels are a good example of those -- Bond himself was always intended to be a bland cipher onto which the reader can project himself). But more often than not, it'll be the characters that drag me into a particular story, not the world.