Author Topic: Developer's Journal  (Read 70170 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #60 on: February 03, 2006, 04:56:13 AM »
Grafton,

They are linear, but I remember the agony of waiting months for the next dragonlance module as a kid.  What we've done is set them up so you can run your own stuff in between.  For instance, the RM versions of the adventure take place three levels apart (characterwise).  The first is third level, the second sixth, etc.  It might stretch credulity at the end, when everything is moving really quickly, but we've set it up so that you can play you're own adventures in between.  If you are playing them twelve weeks apart for some reason, you just need to make sure it takes you twelve weeks to go up two that final third level.  If you are playing them in a row, you give them enough xp to go up three levels after every adventure.

The only time it's hard to come up with a rationale is when the adventures enter chase mode, then you have to come up with good interuption or force them to lose the trail for several weeks.

I cover that in the adventures in a section called XP Metabolism or something like that.
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #61 on: February 03, 2006, 04:58:03 AM »
Oh, and send me those links again.  Either I missed them the first time or they were one of the ones I tried but the page wasn't working when I did (or I just haven't gotten to them yet, I'm behind in e-mail.)
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #62 on: February 11, 2006, 06:19:43 AM »
2/11/06

   Running a little late this week, as you probably guessed.  I?ll have to make this quick, I have a lot of stuff to do before Life, the Universe and Everything.  Pagemaking and the art wrangling and the like.
   On the writing front it wasn?t the most productive week, at least as far as an outside observer could tell.  I wrote one country for chapter 4 and spent the rest of the time on conversions for the demo.  The first time you do a conversion (or the first time after you haven?t done one in a while) it takes a long time.  Anyway, that?s done.
   We finished the play test on Saturday.  It went pretty well, I had all the tension and excitement I wanted, even though we were starting cold that evening (we were right in the final battle when we started).
   An interesting note, the characters managed to miss every piece of major treasure in dungeon.  One of them was hidden pretty well, the other too they didn?t bother to look for.  They didn?t grab the body of the main bad guy either, but they were in kinda a rush at the very end there.  Anyway, they missed a lot of armor and the guy who plays the dwarf in the party was slightly put out. :)
   Anyway, we?re on a break for about a month, playing the normal game of the play test group.  Now I just have to figure out what happens in 4.  It?s a hammock adventure and that?s about all I know at this point. :)
   Well, I think I?ll keep it to that this week.  You should hear more from me on Wednesday.
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #63 on: February 23, 2006, 02:55:29 PM »
February 23, 2006

   Okay, obviously we missed last week, both the dev journal and the preview.  The reason, of course, is the symposium.  Not only did I not get to anything myself, but two of my editors didn?t turn in copy edits on the preview.
   So, Life, the Universe and Everything.  It was LONG.  I did eight panels and events but one of them was a four hours writer?s workshop with WotC writer Dan Willis that took four hours.
   The demos went very well.  Schlock Mercenary (www.schlockmercenary.com) writer Howard Taylor even praised it in his blog.  He actually mentioned me several times but he hasn?t linked to the company website yet (Howard).  He?s probably my easiest connection into an expanded audience, so I?ll keep ribbing him until he does it.
   We also talked about working together on a future product.  That would be fun, I hope it happens.  Howard is a hoot.
   Lets see, I did a panel on the cost of technology with Kevin J Anderson.  Kevin invited me out to lunch afterward (we know each other from Writers of the Future) but we were foiled by plans from the committee, who?d set up a lunch appointment for the guests of honor (I was just a special guest this year.)  After that I did two gaming panels, one on storytelling where I got to plug the dramatic purpose feature of the Echoes of Heaven adventures (someone speak up if I haven?t talked about that before).  The other was the going forward with your game idea panel.  More plugs.  Both of those were with veteran game designer Scott Clegg.
   Saturday my day began with a panel on immortality with Dave Wolverton (aka Dave Farland, the Runelord Series, the Courtship of Princess Leia, Jedi Apprentice and many, many others).  I didn?t have a lot to add to that panel so I spent most of my time making jokes.  Especially soylent green jokes.  I mean, how often do you get to make soylent green jokes?  After that I had a Campaign Cartographer (www.profantasy.com) demo.  It had a decent turn out.  Finally I did a panel with Dave and Brandon Sanderson (Elantris, which you MUST read).
   Some time during that day I was kicking it in the green room with Brandon and Dave.  Brandon was telling me how he wanted to put a dream writer?s group together with me, Dan, and Writer?s of the Future winner Eric James Stone.  He was telling me how Eric couldn?t clear his schedule for that.  I told him that to be in THAT writer?s group I?d give up my only night off.  Then Dave said, ?I hope you only do it once a month so that the people in Saint George can come.?  Brandon and I snapped around instantly.  (Dave lives in Saint George.  So doe Tracy Hickman, but he wasn?t there.)  To get a writer that big in a writers group?  Oh yes, we would do any schedule he wanted.  Anyway, I don?t know if that will happen, but boy it would be a hoot.  (Did I just say hoot twice in one dev journal?)
   Kevin and I finally got our lunch on Saturday as well.
   Anyway, that night I drove Kevin and his wife Rebecca Moesta to the banquet.  We had a pleasant evening and I dropped them off back at their motel afterward.  Finally, I went home and crashed because I had to go back on graveyards the next night.
   What?s the moral of this story?
   I didn?t get any writing done this week.
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #64 on: March 03, 2006, 11:38:32 AM »
March 3, 2006

   All right.  Let?s see.
   This week was all about trying to catch up from last week, which was all about recovering from the week before, which was all about the convention.  The bright side is that there wasn?t a play test any of those weeks.  If there was, I might not have accomplished anything at all. :)
   Actually, worse than having a play test is prepping a play test and I?m going to have to start that pretty soon (as soon as I figure out enough to start.)  In the meantime, I?m trying to get as much work done on the main book as possible.
   I?m in the middle of the hell chapter, the Gazetteer.  Let?s face it, it?s the most important section of the book but from a writing standpoint it?s the most annoying.  There are so many entries and so many details that you can run out of things to say really quick.
   This week I finished five entries in the Gazetteer.  I intend to set myself a goal of seven entries a week from now on.  That gets me finished with this chapter in just over five weeks.  The problem of course is that we need to start play testing ep. four pretty soon.  When I?m prepping one of those it takes a lot of my time.  So the big question is trying to find the time to do both.
   Let?s give you a little example of my writing commitments during the week.
   Every Thursday I have my writer?s group.  That takes about six hours when you figure in travel time and it?s the dark and hungry god in every week.  To get ready for writer?s group I need to write an average of one thousand words of fiction a day, starting about Sunday (I do a lot more than that per day because there are days I don?t write, but I average 7k a week.)   Now I can do 1,000 words in about forty minutes, figure an hour when you add in all the little things that distract.  Of course right now I?m writing a comedy.  Those are much more difficult.  Figure one and a half hours.  So that?s ten and a half hours a week, plus an hour of rewrites right before the group.  Seventeen and a half total, and that?s absolutely inviolate in my week.
   Add to that the game design stuff.  It takes me about an hour and a half to do a single entry in the Gazetteer (about 650 words--those take longer).  Another ten and a half hours, that puts me up to twenty-eight hours a week.  Add to that two hours to get the preview ready (one hour to write and rewrite it, one to gather in the copy edits, whip it into shape and post it).  Then one hour for my developer?s journal.  That?s thirty-one now.
   Add to this about five hours a week of writing related e-mails and two hours of other general editing tasks and I?m up to thirty eight hours.  That?s direct writing-related stuff.
   Now I?m working on a project with Black Library right now, so add to that about six hours of play in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay each week.  This is also the best time for me and my Final Redoubt Business partner to talk, so we usually talk about three hours afterward, working out business details.  Then there?s the play test.  Even when we aren?t doing that, we have another game and I?m not exactly going to build good relations with those people if I refuse to play with them when it doesn?t advance my company. :) That?s about six more hours.
   Then I have a real job on top of that.
   I?m not telling you all this to complain, I just thought you ought to understand, especially if you see my production drop when I get my prep time coming around.  Things are busy here.  If I didn?t get my recreation from the play test and warhammer games, I?d go completely crazy. :)
   Anyway, more next week.
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline markc

  • Elder Loremaster
  • ****
  • Posts: 10,697
  • OIC Points +0/-0
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #65 on: March 07, 2006, 11:38:06 PM »
When do you sleep?
MDC
Bacon Law: A book so good all PC's need to be recreated.
Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #66 on: March 11, 2006, 05:46:52 AM »
I try to combine tasks, like writing at work or working at a game or writing while sleeping.  Even now, I'm curled up and dreaming, writing the dev journal and working all at the same time.
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #67 on: March 11, 2006, 05:48:32 AM »
March 11, 2006

   All right.  Last week I told you a bit about my schedule.  Let me give you a description of how that can go terribly wrong.
   Friday and Saturday were pretty bad at work.  I managed to complete one entry in the gazetteer on each day, but that was it.  On Sunday, I completed one as well, but on Sunday our wake-up-call computer went down at the hotel.  Now, my boss isn?t very computer savvy and the people who fix it were in a meeting all morning, so it was 10:30 before I finally managed to end the phone calls at home and feel like the box would be fixed without them calling me five times during the day.  However, no writing done for the Dark and Hungry God on Thursday.
   Monday night I woke up feeling terrible.  I have this minor internal condition, let?s just call it ?allergies.?  My allergies were acting up that night making me feel sick to my stomach and the lack of sleep just amplified everything.  I called in sick to my Shadowrun game and barely moved from the couch except to nap.  No writing, the Dark and Hungry God is getting hungrier.
   Tuesday I felt better, but I was trying to synch up my laptop so that I could write a little at the Warhammer game when I realized my server is down.  Without a server you have no authentication and without authentication, no file swapping.  As a stop gap I burned my Echoes of Heaven Directory onto a CD and flew out the door.  I got to the game an hour late but I was able to do a little writing during the chatting and when the others were fighting.  When I got home, I didn?t have much time to try to troubleshoot before sleeping.  Still, the Dark and Hungry God is getting hungrier.
   Wednesday, last day before the Dark and Hungry God.  Wednesday can be good for me.  If the day is light, I can write half a weekly fiction goal during that shift.  Add to that some three-four hours of writing and proofing at home and I have time to do all my weekly fiction writing in one 24 hour period.  However this Wednesday we had an entire convention hit town.  Last time this happened I got into a fight with the Maintenance Man and practically quit my job.  I know I?m going to be working my ass off and I know that I?m not getting home on time (I have to wrap up with the audit, and I can?t leave until it?s finished).  The Dark and Hungry God ain?t getting fed.
   But I don?t just write novels, I also write short stories and I have one I?ve wanted to write for a long time.  The idea is I want to do a story primarily in second person imperative.  Now, there?s no way to sustain this for long without annoying your reader, so I wrote that this week instead.  Since you could read multiple chapters at writing group but not multiple stories this is the perfect solution.  I don?t lose the week of critques and yet I?m done writing in 45 minutes including a second proofing.
   That night I finished on time but my relief refused to come into work (he actually refused).  My boss came in to relieve me, but he had to buy breakfast in the morning and he couldn?t do that while watching the desk so I sent him out before I left, making myself an hour late after all.  Then I went home, finished the entry of the gazetteer that I had started Tuesday, printed for writing group and passed out.
   The next day I did some mail errands, ate, then went to writing group and fed the Hungry God.  That night I spent all night rebuilding my file infrastructure to work peer to peer (this shouldn?t take long, but essentially I had to delete all offline files and recopy across the network and that took about fifteen hours.).
   So, bottom line.  Only five entries completed in the Gazetteer this week.
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #68 on: March 11, 2006, 05:50:02 AM »
Oh, I also finally nailed down the last elements of the structure for Ep 4 this week.  I thought I'd done that last week, but I jumped my last hurdle this time.  :)
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #69 on: March 17, 2006, 07:32:55 AM »
March 17, 2006

   Okay, this wasn?t a bad week at all.  I outline Ep 4 completely and I updated most of the characters for the main play test group (there are a couple that aren?t RM players and it takes me less time to do all the characters than it would to help any of them with one).  That works fine for us, anyway.
   I just finished (about ten minutes ago as I write this) the seventh national entry in the Gazetteer chapter for the week, which isn?t bad since I?m posting this a day earlier than last week.  So, I made that goal.
   We did have one major possible setback.  The fellow who is doing our concept art and logos and the like, as well as a lot of out interior art and covers got a book deal.  He hasn?t answered my e-mails on the matter yet, but I?m thinking that with the increased writing and art requirements for this illustrated book, his deal with us might change a bit.  I?m very happy for him, but now I probably need to find another artist who is forgiving of our pay structure (which doesn?t involve any money up front).
   We?ll see how that works out.
   I?m going to have to take the week off of writing the main book.  I have the SM quarterly due soon and it?s 9k words.  It shouldn?t take up all my writing time this week (it better not), but I also need to prep Ep 4.  I?m 8 days out from starting it in play test.  I need to finish raising that last PC (about fifteen minutes) then I need to write the teaser and act one by the first week.  There are also six characters that need full stating because of the structure of the adventure before act two.  In fact, it?s a bit like a mystery in structure, so I?ll have to have all of Act Two ready before I start it.  It isn?t linear like a dungeon (at least the location-based portion isn?t).  So there?s no room to slack off there.
   And I?m thinking of giving myself Thursday nights off, after my writer?s group.  Maybe finish playing Morrowind and my Neverwinter add ons.  Help keep my sanity so I don?t go crazy and start playing Everquest II again.
   That?s pretty much it for this week.  I have my first full nation write-up coming up in a preview in a couple weeks.  It?s the writer?s bible version so the entry in the main book might be more compact, but you?ll get an idea of what the nation entries might look like.
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #70 on: March 26, 2006, 07:18:45 AM »
   Ok.  Interesting week.
   I?ve done a lot of work on Spacemaster Quarterly this week.  By a word count I am about 60% done.  By a page count it?s more like 71%.  So I should finish it Tuesday or so.  Then that will be off my schedule.  I?m happy with it so far.
   I also wrote the Teaser and Act One of Episode 4 this week.  Just-in-time game design (we started the play test today.)  We finished the Teaser and more than half of the first act.  It went as well as can be expected, but I discovered a major issue with the Teasers.
   Right before we started, one of the players jokingly voted that we skip the teaser.  Now if they are joking about it, there?s probably some truth to the sentiment, so I?ve been thinking about it all night.  I actually should have expected it.  The structure of the teasers have two major strikes against them, and I need to make them much more interesting to compensate.  Well I haven?t.  I?ve been structuring them like fragments of a single adventure when I need to be turning them into a series of reveals that will be enough for the players to forgive other aspects that might diffuse the tension.
   So I think I can do it.  I?ll have to rewrite the ending of the last teaser as well as the one we did today, but I think I can present the players with a situation where they are looking forward to the next Teaser.  If that doesn?t work, I?ll have to rewrite each of them from scratch to make them so interesting that this makes up for their tension deficiencies.
   This is, of course, why we play test.
   Act One went much better.  It started with some down time that allowed the characters to unwind a little, then events cranked up and now they are marching forward toward what can only be certain doom.  The mood was good, the player interest was good, we would have played longer if a car hadn?t knocked out a local power line (with pole), plunging the house into darkness.  After that there was a distant explosion that we never identified.  Then all the sirens.  Anyway, that kind of wrecked the momentum twenty minutes from the end of our time slot.
   BTW, someone on one of the lists suggested a Pavlovian experiment.  They put forth that you give the game theme music and use that music to get everyone into the mood.  I tried it.  Now every time I play Carmina Burana?s O Fortuna, they snap right into game mode.  In fact one of the players told me she heard the song playing in the background of another piece and she immediately started thinking of the game.  On the bright side, she thinks of it fondly.  I still have a negative reaction to Billy Joel?s Nylon Curtain because I listened to it about 10 times playing the original Might and Magic until I was sick. :)
   So there?s that.
   On another bright side, Ep Four is a bit of a Horror adventure and I got a lot of comments about how creepy the Teaser was.  So that part, at least, was decent.
   I?m not obsessing.  Honest.  This is my process.
   All right.  Until next week.  Maybe then I?ll be able to report more entries finished in the Gazetteer.
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline GerikGnome

  • Neophyte
  • *
  • Posts: 25
  • OIC Points +0/-0
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #71 on: March 26, 2006, 10:38:56 PM »
It's all right.  The teasers can be more interesting, but I doubt they could really make me that psyched to do them.  You know my only issue (think of how I nearly died in the teaser), and I shall not speak of it here because I don't know if that aspect is releasable without permission.

Otherwise, this has been a really fun episode thus far.

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #72 on: April 02, 2006, 05:03:34 AM »
April 2, 2006

   OK.  Good, good week.  I?m very happy with things.
   First of all, SM Quarterly.  I finished it and turned it in.  There are some editing hiccups, naturally (I?m terrible at proofreading myself), but Heike had only one major question and I answered that easily.  She even seemed to leave the verb grepped inside.  I thought for sure I?d get a question on that.  Evidently unix lingo has pervaded more than I thought. :)
   So that?s good.  I suggested a new title for it and Heike liked it so it probably won?t be called the quarterly.  I?ll let them announce the new name if they decide to go with it, though.
   I got the concept for the cover, after all but rejecting the logo.  The full color version of everything won me mostly over.  My business partner, Scott, asked for a change.  That?s been done and I haven?t heard more.  I?ll talk to him on Monday and find out his final position.
   After that, I sacrificed my newly granted day off, Thursday, to Ep 4 of the campaign.  Of course, by day off I mean that I only spend 5-6 hours on writing-related activities that day, so it might be a misnomer.  At any rate I spent a whole lot of that sleeping, but managed to write a good bit of Act Two of the adventure.  Friday night at work I finished all but the last physical location of Act Two (which the characters have to earn access too, so they can?t get there at the beginning) and about half of the events.  That way, they could do anything they wanted this weekend and I wouldn?t run out of material.  I didn?t get to Act Two, but I?m glad we had the option.
   Because of the LDS general conference, we didn?t start until about 8:30 and ended about 11:30.  We did three encounters tonight, but the middle one probably took two and a half of those three hours.
   So let?s talk about fate points and total party kill.
   I?m probably recommending that people playing with these adventures in RM use fate points (Channeling Companion.)  I started using them after we lost two characters in Ep 2, both off of single lucky attacks.  The first one was kinda the characters fault (sorry Ang), at least she purposely put herself in the risky situation (and didn?t parry, although I can?t say that was the worst decision, considering the Obs involved at the time).  The second one was all but a vengence kill.  It came out of nowhere and the player had little warning.  Everyone failed their sense ambush maneuvers.
   Anyway, I use Fate Points now.  I don?t tell players how many they have and I don?t tell them when I use them, but basically, when I fudge a roll to save a player?s life, it isn?t arbitrary.  They are losing an asset that they must earn back through noble deeds.
   I have three house rules that I use, despite the fact that this is a play test.  I already talked about parrying multiple foes.  The other two involve how I handle Background Options (I do it a little differently, but when I converted talents to the real rules for the demo, only one character lost any real power and I?m pretty sure he fudged his rolls a little).  The third house rule I use is in fate points.  I would drop this one, but I actually need it more in a play test.  What I do is in addition to the normal fate point rules, I use a fate point to stop a character?s death.  Basically, when a character is bleeding to death or being eaten by zombies or whatever, I spend one of their fate points, the character stabilizes, and the foes leave him for dead.  That way unless the whole party wipes, they?ll make it.  I need this in the play test because when I misjudge a battle?s difficulty, it?s the character?s action that save them (their past actions, earning their fate points) and not me just claiming a do-over at the end of the battle.
   So.  Tonight?s battle.  A 12th level party with high offensive power and very good magic up against three times their number in wolves.  Yep, just plain old wolves.  Should have been a cakewalk.  I sent them against a slightly tougher battle last weak and the use of Spell Mastery on a elemental ball spell basically ended the whole thing in one round (the battle went on but the bad guys were stunned and reeling and the rest was mop-up.
   So, you think that this would be an easy battle, but tactics can so change a situation.  First of all, they had the blind girl on watch.  Sounds like a bad idea, but actually with her Spatial Location Awareness, she might be one of the better people.  Still, I penalized the roll -20 to see the wolves before they attacked.  Even if I hadn?t, it would still be a Sense Ambush or a Situation Awareness (Watch) which it?s unlikely a party has very high, so that?s probably where I?m adjusting the difficulty of the encounter.  She got a partial success, just enough to convince her she had indigestion.
   So.  A battle where the total enemy levels is some 75% of the total party levels, you?d expect an easy fight, but that all changes when the first attack comes while everyone is naked and sleeping.  Three attacks on a prone character with little or no OB.  Suddenly everyone has 3+ rounds of stun.  It went down hill from there.  The only thing the Healer did the entire battle was take all the wounds off the spellcaster twice.  Even then they probably all would have died if the wolves weren?t corrupted, allowing the paladin?s aura spells to work.  (Ulcer wolves).
   So.  The person on watch lost no fate points.  I think everyone else lost at least one (except the henchman, a street urchin who rolled high enough on his alertness and made it into a tree for the whole fight, shouting helpful top-down advice like, ?Clear the circle!? and ?Ball spells!?).  The bard, the healer, the dwarven paladin, and the gnome spell-user all lost two fate points.  The bard spent one to stop dying and let the wolves deprioritize her and another when the gnome called in close air support on her position.  The dwarf and the gnome spent both of theirs on 96+ crits from random wolves.  There?s a highly-technical military term for this situation.  It?s ?Charlie Foxtrot? and it means, in polite translation, ?Weren?t we just taking a nap a moment ago??
   Anyway.  They stopped one or two no-fighting encounters away from Act Two.  If any of the play testers are reading this and wonder why I looked like arguing when Amanda called the game to an end, it?s because I was weighing the odds that those last encounters would only take five minutes.  At the end I decided the odds were only fifty percent.  We might have an argument about the best course of action.
   So we ended there.
   Tomorrow: Act Three.  Should be easy to write and if not I?ll finish it Monday.  Then back to the gazatteer and one entry a day.
   Plus I think I picked up a new concept artist last night.  I?ll find out more this morning.  Either way, I?m gonna do our last concept art push over this last two weeks so we can have two months to do the art for the first product.  Hopefully a month for the art and a month to put out art related fires, ?There are no cheerleaders in the Echoes of Heaven!  It?s not that kind of fantasy.?
   Bets on how many fate points we burn next week?
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Elton Robb

  • Revered Elder
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,206
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Master of Atlantis
    • The Atlantis Blog
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #73 on: April 02, 2006, 08:40:36 AM »
Wow.  This looks like you're having fun. :)

Robert, I know you got my congradulations on doing "The Echos of Heaven."  Good job, man.  This is turning out to be a good enterprise for you.  I wish I could join you, but my Atlantis players would have something to say against that. ;)
« Last Edit: April 02, 2006, 08:44:17 AM by Elton Robb »
Personal Web Portfolio:
http://eltonatlantean.wix.com/portfolio
Deviant Art: http://atlantean6.deviantart.com/
Renderosity: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/browse.php?user_id=561541

Offline GerikGnome

  • Neophyte
  • *
  • Posts: 25
  • OIC Points +0/-0
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #74 on: April 02, 2006, 11:27:59 PM »
Funny thing is "Charlie Foxtrot" is exactly the term I used.  It's amazing how a BLIND woman on WATCH failing a sense ambush can result in total party wipe.  Twice.  And in all that I only killed one party member.

As for fate points next week, that depends on whether or not sneaky charges into the fray.  My  guess is...oh, let's say...3.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2006, 11:31:45 PM by GerikGnome »

Xennex

  • Guest
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #75 on: April 05, 2006, 10:23:38 PM »
From the shadows... Yes, the blind girl was on watch, but only the gnome and the rogue expressed any doubts about it. Also... I only got my fate point when I stepped out of the room.  ;) Still... personally, I will say that I would think that the blind girl should of been able to hear the 18+ wolves slobbering through the woods. I don't know about anyone else, but I thought hunting wolves howled to each other.  Maybe too many night playing Werewolf in my foolish younger days.  ;D

Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #76 on: April 05, 2006, 10:57:15 PM »
Being a civilized person, I've never been hunted by wolves, but I don't think they make a noise until they attack.  Otherwise all the prey would go to ground.

But as I said, I'm adjusting that sense ambush difficulty.  :)
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com

Offline Elton Robb

  • Revered Elder
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,206
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Master of Atlantis
    • The Atlantis Blog
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #77 on: April 05, 2006, 11:37:50 PM »
 :cool:

I believe you're right, Robert.
Personal Web Portfolio:
http://eltonatlantean.wix.com/portfolio
Deviant Art: http://atlantean6.deviantart.com/
Renderosity: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/browse.php?user_id=561541

Tyra

  • Guest
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #78 on: April 06, 2006, 11:17:04 AM »
Wolves are one of the most communicative animals.  The drive their prey with howls and growls.  They aren't a stalking predator in the same way as lions, that is more the action of a solitary predator that does not have a pack to rely on.  Lion prides stalk but they do not communicate in their daily lives like Wolves do.  A person at night would have an "easier" time hearing a pack of wolves approach than seeing them approach.  Blind people have more accute senses to make up for their lack of sight.  They would pick out thinks that someone else would not notice.  I agree the difficulty needs adjusted.  The game will most likely be played by sighted characters.  In a play test with a character with such a difficult flaw to work with, things like this become a different color horse. (that's just my two cents on being blamed for the party losing fate points.)

Other than that, it would have been nice if the Dwarf had used his holy aura sooner.  There was also alot of "miffing" with rolls on my part and the part of some of the other characters.  I would get a good role but a crappy crit.  That's the beauty of Rolemaster.  Its all about that Critical table.  Its okay to get beat up once in a while.  It makes the party remember they aren't invulnerable.


Offline Defendi

  • Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,641
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • Final Redoubt Press
    • Final Redoubt Press
Re: Developer's Journal
« Reply #79 on: April 06, 2006, 11:42:02 AM »
Actually, all the articles I can find on wolves say this isn't true.  They howl BEFORE hunting.  They probably make noise when driving a prey (the articles aren't as clear on this point), but they stalk silently and approach downwind, so the prey can't smell them.
The Echoes of Heaven:  Available for HARP and Rolemaster.  www.FinalRedoubt.com