Impossible Ghost Protocol

This post has nothing to do with Tom Cruise’s latest Mission Impossible movie. Well, not very much; today’s title was mostly inspired by the way the title currently appears on my local video store’s marquee. (Incidentally, that reminds me of some humorous photo that was making its way around the internet a few years ago: a theater marquee with “My Dog Skip,” “Screwed,” and “Erin Brockovich” – in that order, of course. But I digress…)

I’m still working my way through the editing process for “Adventures Dark and Deep: A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore,” Joe Bloch’s very cool ‘what if?’ re-imagining of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as it might have been written by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax had he remained with the company (based on Gary’s public writings on the subject over decades).  Naturally, that’s taking up a great deal of my free time, but I’m making good progress, and should be finished within another week or two. Then I can get back to Corporia (my dystopian utopia with a Cyberpunk-y/Shadowrun 0.5 feel), and hopefully wrap it up as Kickstarter beta by the first of June.

Otherwise, the only slightly unusual event to occur lately revolves around the new carpet that’s being installed at the Academy. No, really… Amazingly, the installers actually lift the pods (cubicles), install the carpet, and set the pods back down. The row where I sit is a four-deep/two-wide row of connected pods, but except for my water bottle lying on its side on my desktop, the fact that I had to turn my computer back on, and of course the new carpet, you’d never know anyone had been there.

I keep waiting for Tom Cruise to come out of a closet in full MI gear and yell “Surprise!” … but that’s another conversation altogether.

Today’s Big Weiner

Only correct answers can win? What’s this world coming to?

Ah, well. Based on the movie trivia question inside (which anyone can answer with access to the internet), I’m guessing it’s just a way to grab me for a return visit, anyway…

More weird foods

Since I spent half of my last post on chicken-flavored suckers (which taste nasty, by the way: sort of like spicy lemon pepper), I thought I’d take the last few minutes of my lunch break to use the cool phone blogging app and show you a couple more…

I’m drinking the kombucha now. Tastes pretty much like the raspberry drink it’s supposed too, just a bit thicker. I barely even notice the seeds.

I didn’t buy the pork rinds, though. Even a southern boy like me (who grew up with pork rinds) has SOME standards.

Paranormal chicken lollipops

Yes, I’m blogging from my place in the grocery store checkout line, where I wait with the weekly supply o’ food, plus something I’ve been wanting to try for a while: chicken flavored lollipops.

And OUT of the package - shaped like a plucked chicken!

Believe it or not, chicken-flavored lollipops are not the most amusing thing I saw today. Check out these two signs I saw on the way to the store:

Paranormal classes!

While on the adjacent corner:

Or, for the less adventurous...

I just can’t decide which to attend…

Games galore

It’s time for the four-day spring auction at Games Plus in Mount Prospect! To be accurate, this is actually Day 3: fantasy and sci-fi.

Despite the years I’ve been gaming, this is the first auction I’ve been able to attend as a buyer. I’ve put books up for sale at the huge Origins and GenCon auctions, but of course that was when I was working for Kenzer and Company and couldn’t get away from our exhibitor booth (or whatever event I was running).

Like most of the 50+ people here already, I showed up an hour early to get an advance look at the items. There are only a couple of books I’m tangentially interested in, and I don’t think I have the mental stamina (or the butt padding) to hang out here all day, so I may not end up with anything. We’ll see how it goes…

Mother, Jugs and Peeves

I hate head colds. Not that they’re related to the above blog title, but considering how I feel, I just thought I’d throw that out there.

No, one thing that bugs me is when dvd/movie poster designers have very clear reasons to line up a celebrity with their name, and yet… somehow… they don’t.

This one, for instance. Bill Cosby was Mother, and Raquel Welch was Jugs, but their names don’t line up. It would have been nice if they could have flipped the image, too.

As a publishing guy, let me just say… Argh.

It doesn’t affect the movie, of course, which is fortunate since it’s actually one of my favorites. If you like dark comedies, you should definitely check it out.

Oh baby…

My nephew is visiting this weekend, so blogging time (and sleep) is scarce. For instance, this post is being written from the bed and droid app before I fall into a soon-to-be-awakened slumber…

I’ve been working on some Corporia updates in my head, though, and hope to get them down on ‘paper’ in a couple of days.

Sweet dreams… 😉

On another note, or Hey man where’s the bathroom?

No Corporia talk today. I’m attempting to not overload the internet or your attention span, and just focus on that every couple of days or so.  Also, we finally came super close to finishing our bathroom renovation, which you can see on my Associated Fugues blog.

Now I’m going to collapse.

 

Knights-Errant, or The tip of the sword

I’ve gotten a few comments and requests regarding the character concepts, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to show you one. This is the Knight-Errant. (Click the link to download the 4-page, 2.2 MB PDF.)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m utilizing a much more modern design style. I still love the classic RPG genre style (tightly packed 2-column black & white), but I wanted to give these pages a chance to ‘breathe’ and let some looseness in without being accused of too MUCH looseness. I know a few people who aren’t happy unless their game books are full of dense 8-point type but, darn it, I’m getting older and I just can’t squint anymore. 🙂

Of course, this is not a final version. Fonts, colors, art, and even text may be changed. Also, the sample Knight-Errant stats still need to be added. Still, I think it’s a good start for the ‘classes.’ (Well, okay, the other 11 have been started, but I need more text and polishing before I’m ready to post them…)

Any comments on content or design appreciated, as always!

Class struggles, or Who you are in Corporia

In my Corporia RPG project, you’re not limited to selecting from a fixed number of classes. You can create any human character you can think of, provided it’s appropriate to the setting and your GameMaster approves, of course. However, you do get several detailed concepts and sample characters to choose from, as follows:

• Badge (Soldier/Private Policeman/Merc)
• Corporate (Jr Executive)
• Drone (indented workers)
• Executive Assistant (your basic Secretary-Assassin/Wetworker – I’m still pondering a better name.)
• Hacker
• Journo (Journalist)
• Knight-Errant
• Radical
• Runner (much like ‘Faith’ in Mirror’s Edge video game)
• Scientist
• Sorcerer (Technomancer – focuses on more modern spell applications)
• Witch/Wizard (more natural magic energy use)

I hope to wrap up a few of these ‘final’ second drafts tomorrow, and have something for your perusal…