lojakz's page

Goth Guru wrote:

It's pre-good and evil. There may be demon and elder horror worship(they haven't attracted the attentions of any other outer planes) mostly taking place deep underground. In the future, Atlantis may be sunk, the Elves worshiping spider demons may be cursed into Drow, and some dwarves may become Drugar. PCs should have a lot to do with if and when this happens.

You really can't be "pre-Good and Evil" unless you're pre-sentient. Good and Evil come into play when you have beings that can make choices beyond that of pre-programmed instinct. It's what people miss most often of the Eden metaphor. The line of Genesis which reads after Adam and Eve eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. "the scales fell from their eyes and they perceived their nakedness". Adam and Eve are more defined by this transition, than by anything else in the Genesis story. I highly recommend the book "Broca's Brain" by Carl Sagan, for those who wish to pursue this topic further.

Good and Evil are a function of being self-aware. Of being able to make choices beyond that of immediate survival, or the propogation of your gene pattern. Good and evil reflect that many of the things that animals do without concious volition, are acts that would give us pause at the very least.

I don't want to get into a philosophical argument, just want to clarify what Woodengolem meant by pre good and evil. There are certainly good actions and evil actions in the world. The Unkhan clans murdering and eating each other is evil, it's evil in the eyes of all the other races including their Kindred brothers and sisters. As is most of the actions of the Mariean Empire during it's reign. People in the world have a concept of right and wrong, and what is good and evil. (Though like in our own world some of it's subjective.) The gods however do not.

There are no good gods. There are no evil gods. They have not aligned themselves with these concepts. They are curious, some of them are decidedly more benign than others. And certainly there are actions they have taken with each other that are helping to define these terms in their own minds (the Fall of the Nameless One for instance). But their treatment of mortal races is much like a group of children would treat an ant farm: some of them are content to watch, others want to burn the ants with a magnifying glass or tear the legs off just to see what would happen. The individual acts might be evil, but to the gods it's just a way to help them understand the world. They are moving toward morality, creating the Seal to prevent their own interference is one step toward that. But they haven't fully reach it yet. So when Woodengolem states that it's pre good and evil what he's really talking about is the ideas usually associated with gaming, not the concept as we understand it here in the real world.

I only own a Wii. I've thought about picking up one of the other consoles, but it's usually after visiting and hanging out with a buddy of mine who has a 360. It's cool, I like the multimedia options on it, but I have a PC and a Bluray player that gives me a lot of the same options.

I like platformers, I wouldn't say it's my favorite video game genre, but they rank up there. The other systems don't do platformers like the Wii does. Watching a preview video for the Wii U, it looks like it will fill that niche as well. The Wii U will likely be the first console I ever buy near launch, and will likely be the last console I buy.

I really don't care about what other video gamers do. I don't like online play, I don't like the race for achievements, I like to sit down for a few hours and get lost in a game, either because the game play is fun or the story is engaging.

"SNEAK ATTACK!"

I'm very happy to read this blog and can't wait for the next installment. I love reading about gaming history- the only one I know in my circle of friends and acquaintances that does. So keep em' coming. I find the interplay between the different companies during the earlier days of the hobby absolutely fascinating. (I'd love to read more about the development of Ars Magica, and the merging with Whitewolf and so on... but I suppose that will have to wait for your autobiography Lisa).

First off, I'm pretty much in the camp of "no show, no xp."

Secondly: the players in my games have no idea how much xp their characters actually have. I keep track of it behind the scenes. They get xp for encounters, for staying focus and in character, for doing cool stuff during the game, I also give out bonus xp for work put in outside of the game. This includes game journals, art work, coming up with a background for a person/place/thing in the game world. It is extra credit and is rewarded as such.

I'll tell them when they are close to leveling up. But they have no idea what their exact total xp is. If a player doesn't show up he get's no xp. They know this and if they had a problem, well they probably wouldn't play in my games. I'm ok with that. I'm a pretty fair tempered DM anyway and I never with hold XP to punish people. I do understand that things come up, and people have to miss, no biggie, but you're not getting xp if you do. Though how much you missed you'll never know for sure.

I have never played in a game where if somebody missed the game session they still received XP. To me the notion is ridiculous. Is my way the only way? No. But it's the way I run my games, and I'm very clear and upfront about it from the get go.

I've been waiting for this book for 3 years.

YAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

I despise and loathe spelljammer as much as I do the first Dungeons & Dragons movie. I would rather watch a Wayans brothers marathon, while drinking yak blood, than play in a setting that has spaceships made of wood filled with hippopotami packing matchlocks. Just my opinion.

You know Taliesin I have to admire your passionate hatred of Spelljammer. (Even though, for some reasons I cannot fathom, I really like the setting)

I also have to shudder... yak blood.... *shudder*

Coridan wrote:

Not having any effects of pregnancy just kills any sense of immersion and defeats the purpose of having a pregnancy.

...the purpose of having a pregnancy?

DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN!!!