Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
CAPTCHA is my New Best Friend
I've been working on something - something that I told myself I would finish before I posted a blog entry. You know, to give me impetuous to finish it, since I do quite enjoy writing. But it is taking FOREVER and this carrot and stick thing is just getting tedious. So, without further ado, here is a post about CAPTCHA.
I am seriously thinking about abandoning all other forms of naming places, being it making up stuff to grabbing words from old dead languages, and replacing them with CAPTCHA words. Specifically the ones that Blogger uses. I mean, these things are awesome. I don't know what weird ass algorithm they are using. Maybe they are just chopping up the dictionary and randomly pasting it back together. I've been collecting the CAPTCHA words on each comment I make. Here are the last few:
imperith
misingst
incess
reststro
empffeci
ninsh
aritial
Are they not awesome? My mind buzzes with their potential meanings:
Imperith - It brings to mind Imperial and Impair, with a good splash of Regolith mixed in. What is it? Is it a certain type of soil that kills nobles? Or is the town founded by the rebels fighting against the empire, with massive stone walls protecting it? The town of Imperith would be situated in a mountain pass where it would be easy to throw rocks down on the red cloaked Imperial Guard and their lackeys.
Misingst - At first glance, it reminds me of Missing Misogynists. But also Mist. Mist reminds me of bogs. Perhaps this is a bog, where in ancient times, rapists were tied up, loaded down with rocks, and drowned for their crimes. But their evil overwhelmed the bog, and now the leathery skinned, undead rapist bogmen stalk the Misingst Swamp at might, searching for more victims.
Incess - More perversions coming . . . this reminds me of Inverness and Incest, all rolled into one. A ancient dark tower looms over a well hidden vale in the mountains. A sorcerer built the tower long ago, and refused to let any of the inhabitants of the vale leave. The wizard became a lich, and over the years the vale's population interbred. Now the tower is silent, tended to by the deformed and sadistic offspring of the farmers and townsfolk of Incess Vale, waiting for the time their master will rise from his crypt and wage war upon the outsiders.
Reststro - Wow - this one has Rest, Restroom, Restaurant, and Bistro all rolled into one. Everyone, I mean everyone, wants to go to the little town of Reststro. It's a little town up on the side of a mostly dormant volcano. A constant supply of hot water gives the town a constant supply of hot water - allowing for the largest collection of public and private bath houses in the region. With relaxation and money comes prostitution, gambling, graft, organized crime, corruption, and all that other fun stuff.
Empffeci - My mind goes to Imps and Imperfecto. The 'ffeci' part on the end seems Italian-esque, but it doesn't ring any bells, so we'll just make this place a sea-port on a warm inland sea. A desperate merchant struck up a deal with some Infernal Entities, selling his soul to create a he could be lord of. A host of imps descended upon the shore and began building toward the sea. The Port of Empffeci is mostly built on stilts, it's streets go this way and that, and part of the architecture is under the water. Drawn on a map, Empffeci looks like a plate of spaghetti someone threw on the sidewalk.
Ninsh - Hmm . . . Nine, Ninny, Inch. Once upon a time, there were nine sisters who were a bit stupid. Their evil step-mother told them to go to town and fetch a ham for dinner. They came back, telling her that the bridge over the nearby gorge was out. The evil step-mother told them that the gorge was just nine inches wide, so they could easily jump over it. The sisters tried, and all fell down into the gorge and drown in the river below. In celebration, the evil step-mother named place the Ninsh Gorge.
Aritial - What comes to mind? Aries. Arteries. Insubstantial. So we have a ram, blood, and see-thruness. AHA! Many years ago, a disgruntled farmer, tired of his woes and fed up with his deaf god, decided to turn to the DARK ONES to help his family and crops. He took his prized ram up to the top of a hill and, during a horrible thunderstorm, sacrificed the beast with a obsidian sickle. But instead of good fortune, his house burned down and his crops died. From then on, travelers have been wary of Aritial Hill. Some say there they see the angry ghost of the sacrificed ram, it's fleece glowing like fire and acidic blood spewing from it's horns.
Okay, maybe they won't replace all the other ways of generating names, but they are fun to brainstorm with.
- Ark
I am seriously thinking about abandoning all other forms of naming places, being it making up stuff to grabbing words from old dead languages, and replacing them with CAPTCHA words. Specifically the ones that Blogger uses. I mean, these things are awesome. I don't know what weird ass algorithm they are using. Maybe they are just chopping up the dictionary and randomly pasting it back together. I've been collecting the CAPTCHA words on each comment I make. Here are the last few:
imperith
misingst
incess
reststro
empffeci
ninsh
aritial
Are they not awesome? My mind buzzes with their potential meanings:
Imperith - It brings to mind Imperial and Impair, with a good splash of Regolith mixed in. What is it? Is it a certain type of soil that kills nobles? Or is the town founded by the rebels fighting against the empire, with massive stone walls protecting it? The town of Imperith would be situated in a mountain pass where it would be easy to throw rocks down on the red cloaked Imperial Guard and their lackeys.
Misingst - At first glance, it reminds me of Missing Misogynists. But also Mist. Mist reminds me of bogs. Perhaps this is a bog, where in ancient times, rapists were tied up, loaded down with rocks, and drowned for their crimes. But their evil overwhelmed the bog, and now the leathery skinned, undead rapist bogmen stalk the Misingst Swamp at might, searching for more victims.
Incess - More perversions coming . . . this reminds me of Inverness and Incest, all rolled into one. A ancient dark tower looms over a well hidden vale in the mountains. A sorcerer built the tower long ago, and refused to let any of the inhabitants of the vale leave. The wizard became a lich, and over the years the vale's population interbred. Now the tower is silent, tended to by the deformed and sadistic offspring of the farmers and townsfolk of Incess Vale, waiting for the time their master will rise from his crypt and wage war upon the outsiders.
Reststro - Wow - this one has Rest, Restroom, Restaurant, and Bistro all rolled into one. Everyone, I mean everyone, wants to go to the little town of Reststro. It's a little town up on the side of a mostly dormant volcano. A constant supply of hot water gives the town a constant supply of hot water - allowing for the largest collection of public and private bath houses in the region. With relaxation and money comes prostitution, gambling, graft, organized crime, corruption, and all that other fun stuff.
Empffeci - My mind goes to Imps and Imperfecto. The 'ffeci' part on the end seems Italian-esque, but it doesn't ring any bells, so we'll just make this place a sea-port on a warm inland sea. A desperate merchant struck up a deal with some Infernal Entities, selling his soul to create a he could be lord of. A host of imps descended upon the shore and began building toward the sea. The Port of Empffeci is mostly built on stilts, it's streets go this way and that, and part of the architecture is under the water. Drawn on a map, Empffeci looks like a plate of spaghetti someone threw on the sidewalk.
Ninsh - Hmm . . . Nine, Ninny, Inch. Once upon a time, there were nine sisters who were a bit stupid. Their evil step-mother told them to go to town and fetch a ham for dinner. They came back, telling her that the bridge over the nearby gorge was out. The evil step-mother told them that the gorge was just nine inches wide, so they could easily jump over it. The sisters tried, and all fell down into the gorge and drown in the river below. In celebration, the evil step-mother named place the Ninsh Gorge.
Aritial - What comes to mind? Aries. Arteries. Insubstantial. So we have a ram, blood, and see-thruness. AHA! Many years ago, a disgruntled farmer, tired of his woes and fed up with his deaf god, decided to turn to the DARK ONES to help his family and crops. He took his prized ram up to the top of a hill and, during a horrible thunderstorm, sacrificed the beast with a obsidian sickle. But instead of good fortune, his house burned down and his crops died. From then on, travelers have been wary of Aritial Hill. Some say there they see the angry ghost of the sacrificed ram, it's fleece glowing like fire and acidic blood spewing from it's horns.
Okay, maybe they won't replace all the other ways of generating names, but they are fun to brainstorm with.
- Ark
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
It Still Hasn't Sunken In Yet
After killing two groups of morlocks, the party is confronted by 40 of their angry brothers, all armed with spears and changing down the hall at them.
The Boy: Uh . . .
Ron: Let's get out of here.
Merv: Forty? Yeah. Lets go.
Tim shakes his head and waves his hands: Hold on, hold on. I know the whole design philosophy is a bit different with these old games, but I'm not sure. Would he really set us up to fail? I think we should stay and fight. There has got be be a way - some trick - some gimmick. We can win this. He wouldn't just keep on throwing things at us to kill us, would he. Stand firm. We can do this, guys.
Me: What the hell are you talking about, Tim? I attacked your group of first level adventurers with a DRAGON on a random roll. You are not being paranoid. I AM trying to kill you.
Tim looks back at me and scrunches up his forehead: Oh. Well, let's run away then.
- Ark
The Boy: Uh . . .
Ron: Let's get out of here.
Merv: Forty? Yeah. Lets go.
Tim shakes his head and waves his hands: Hold on, hold on. I know the whole design philosophy is a bit different with these old games, but I'm not sure. Would he really set us up to fail? I think we should stay and fight. There has got be be a way - some trick - some gimmick. We can win this. He wouldn't just keep on throwing things at us to kill us, would he. Stand firm. We can do this, guys.
Me: What the hell are you talking about, Tim? I attacked your group of first level adventurers with a DRAGON on a random roll. You are not being paranoid. I AM trying to kill you.
Tim looks back at me and scrunches up his forehead: Oh. Well, let's run away then.
- Ark
Monday, May 2, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Calling All Really Cool Idea People
My brain is melting.
I need help. I am going to be starting a new LL +AEC game. This isn't a home hosted one - but an every other week affair at the FLGS. The ulterior motive is to create a public haven for old school gaming in this 4e/3,5/Pathfinder rich environment - a place where D&D or Traveller or Stars Without Numbers or Gamma World or Mutant Future or Top Secret could just be whipped out and people would be on it like stink on a dog. But we'll start with LL.
The trouble is, I run a home game every other weekend. It is very vanilla LL. By design - cuz I like it. But for the public game, I want to do something different. Not so far different that it freaks people (newcomers) out, but different enough to keep me interested. Understand?
We've so far got two players who are AD&D types, who want to start playing again, and two complete newbies. I expect others will be interested, but I'll let it grow organically. I think there will be some core people, but there will be people showing up some days and not others.
So I need . . I need . . . A slightly off-kilter episodic sandbox. I guess that is how one would describe it. I once ran a 4e game based loosely on Mouse Guard. It was over the Christmas holidays for a random bunch of people. It was 4e, but the players all were members of the 'Watch' and protected the border from EVIL. And helped little old ladies. They never battled giant crabs though.
Anyway, that worked, for the most part. I could encapsulate each game session into it's own episode - but it wasn't sandobxy at all. I led the players by the nose from episode to episode.
So, I'd like something different, but, well, my head hurts trying to think about it. I want to show the new players what my view of old school D&D is all about. I want it to be encapsulate-able into a session, however. So, a episodic sandbox. Is this an oxy-moron? And it needs to be weird but not too weird. Am I deluding myself? Is this possible?
Thanks in advance for any ideas or thoughts.
- Ark
I need help. I am going to be starting a new LL +AEC game. This isn't a home hosted one - but an every other week affair at the FLGS. The ulterior motive is to create a public haven for old school gaming in this 4e/3,5/Pathfinder rich environment - a place where D&D or Traveller or Stars Without Numbers or Gamma World or Mutant Future or Top Secret could just be whipped out and people would be on it like stink on a dog. But we'll start with LL.
The trouble is, I run a home game every other weekend. It is very vanilla LL. By design - cuz I like it. But for the public game, I want to do something different. Not so far different that it freaks people (newcomers) out, but different enough to keep me interested. Understand?
We've so far got two players who are AD&D types, who want to start playing again, and two complete newbies. I expect others will be interested, but I'll let it grow organically. I think there will be some core people, but there will be people showing up some days and not others.
So I need . . I need . . . A slightly off-kilter episodic sandbox. I guess that is how one would describe it. I once ran a 4e game based loosely on Mouse Guard. It was over the Christmas holidays for a random bunch of people. It was 4e, but the players all were members of the 'Watch' and protected the border from EVIL. And helped little old ladies. They never battled giant crabs though.
Anyway, that worked, for the most part. I could encapsulate each game session into it's own episode - but it wasn't sandobxy at all. I led the players by the nose from episode to episode.
So, I'd like something different, but, well, my head hurts trying to think about it. I want to show the new players what my view of old school D&D is all about. I want it to be encapsulate-able into a session, however. So, a episodic sandbox. Is this an oxy-moron? And it needs to be weird but not too weird. Am I deluding myself? Is this possible?
Thanks in advance for any ideas or thoughts.
- Ark
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Dead Simple Lock & Trap Mini-game
I've fiddled around and play-tested the various ideas and suggestions floating around until I've come arranged the pieces into something that the Boy likes.
This mini-game involves a deck of cards. It could be a regular deck of cards or a special deck with bump, undulate, rake, and probe written on each. Four 'suits' of some sort or another.
Take the deck of cards. Remove the Jokers. Shuffle. Set the cards down and stare at the player.
To pick the lock, the the thief must pick one out of four actions to take - bump (club,) undulate (heart,) rake (diamond,) or probe (spade.) Three of the actions will further the lock-picking (or trap disarming.) One of those actions will seize up the lock, or set off the trap.
Example One:
DM sees that the next card is an Undulate (Heart.)
Player: I Probe (Spade) the lock with my lock picks.
DM: (flips over card) You hear a faint 'click' and have passed this stage. On to the next tumbler.
Example Two:
DM sees that the next card is an Undulate (Heart.)
Player: I Undulate (Heart) the lock with my lock picks.
DM: (flips over card) Too bad. The lock seizes up on you. Game over, dude.
Each lock has a certain amount of cards that determine it's difficulty. A 2d4 roll could easily be used to determine the number of cards, but any amount could be used. Percentages of success are as follows:
75% - One Card
56% - Two Cards
42% - Three Cards
32% - Four Cards
24% - Five Cards
18% - Six Cards (fyi - roughly equals the chance for a first level thief)
13% - Seven Cards
10% - Eight Cards
As a thief increases in level, their skill would increase as well. Each level gives the thief the ability to automatically conquer an undisplayed card. This does not fix a 'seized lock,' it just allows the thief to reduce the number of cards in the stack during play. A level 2 thief would breeze through a 2 card lock without having to make any guesses.
Traps can be implemented by card values. For example, all face value cards could be trapped. If the lock seizes up on a face value card, the lock's trap would spring. Hilarity ensues.
So, that's it. Hopefully I've been clear enough. Comments appreciated. And thanks to all who came forth with ideas. Ya'll rock, much like old school does.
All I need now is a BURP deck. :)
- Ark
This mini-game involves a deck of cards. It could be a regular deck of cards or a special deck with bump, undulate, rake, and probe written on each. Four 'suits' of some sort or another.
Take the deck of cards. Remove the Jokers. Shuffle. Set the cards down and stare at the player.
To pick the lock, the the thief must pick one out of four actions to take - bump (club,) undulate (heart,) rake (diamond,) or probe (spade.) Three of the actions will further the lock-picking (or trap disarming.) One of those actions will seize up the lock, or set off the trap.
Example One:
DM sees that the next card is an Undulate (Heart.)
Player: I Probe (Spade) the lock with my lock picks.
DM: (flips over card) You hear a faint 'click' and have passed this stage. On to the next tumbler.
Example Two:
DM sees that the next card is an Undulate (Heart.)
Player: I Undulate (Heart) the lock with my lock picks.
DM: (flips over card) Too bad. The lock seizes up on you. Game over, dude.
Each lock has a certain amount of cards that determine it's difficulty. A 2d4 roll could easily be used to determine the number of cards, but any amount could be used. Percentages of success are as follows:
75% - One Card
56% - Two Cards
42% - Three Cards
32% - Four Cards
24% - Five Cards
18% - Six Cards (fyi - roughly equals the chance for a first level thief)
13% - Seven Cards
10% - Eight Cards
As a thief increases in level, their skill would increase as well. Each level gives the thief the ability to automatically conquer an undisplayed card. This does not fix a 'seized lock,' it just allows the thief to reduce the number of cards in the stack during play. A level 2 thief would breeze through a 2 card lock without having to make any guesses.
Traps can be implemented by card values. For example, all face value cards could be trapped. If the lock seizes up on a face value card, the lock's trap would spring. Hilarity ensues.
So, that's it. Hopefully I've been clear enough. Comments appreciated. And thanks to all who came forth with ideas. Ya'll rock, much like old school does.
All I need now is a BURP deck. :)
- Ark
Monday, April 25, 2011
Character Sketch - Imbroglio
![]() |
| Actual Photo |
It is rumored that Imbroglio was run out of the elven lands by his own kinsfolk. Upon meeting Imbroglio, it is understandable why. Imbroglio has large amount of pamphlets, explaining in full detail why everyone, including you, should worship Faux. Did I say he has a lot of pamphlets?
Imbroglio runs a traveling road show, developed with the express purpose of spreading Faux's divine message. The road show is comprised of many people that do not know they are part of the road show. They just happen to be innocent bystanders. Imbroglio uses his amazing feats of strength to sway potential devotees by breaking stick on his forehead. Some say he has hit himself too many times in the head with wood.
Others say he was dropped when he was a baby. A lot. And then jumped on. When I say others, I mean the Boy.
There are many ways that Imbroglio attempts to impress those unblessed with the knowledge of Faux. Part of the road show is devoted to wild animal taming. Imbroglio, through the divine will of his god, causes wild beasts to become tame. Regretfully, he does not have any wild beasts. Luckily, he has convinced the halfling thief Ferrit to dress up as a giant wild ferret. During the show, Ferrit acts wild, then is tamed and does a little jig for the crowd. Imbroglio is pretty happy with the way things have worked out, except for the fact that Ferrit demands too much of a cut of the meager proceeds earned.
![]() |
| Fearsome Beast |
Despite all of his hardships, Imbroglio remains steadfast, fighting evil in the name of Faux armed with his mighty, and somewhat broken iron pick. He helps raise his spirits by giving himself titles. So far, he is now officially known as Imbroglio the Spider Squisher, the Dragon Slayer, the Orc Stinger, the Bee Slasher, and the Dryad Disappearer, and the Jello Snuffer. Some of those things he didn't actually kill, but he's at least seen them, so he figures they must have died already, or will die at some point in the future.
The DM doesn't expect Imbroglio to last very much longer, but Tim is very hopeful the plucky little elf can go all the way.
- Ark
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