The plan is to fly into London, take a train to Paris, train to Toulouse, train to Madrid, then fly back home. The trip will last about 10 days total, and with nearly 5 days of that being taken up with flying/trains, that doesn’t leave much time to spare for fun stuff and sightseeing. But, we will do our best to squeeze some in, and I will post pictures as I can.

This is done in the style of The Very Secret Diaries of the Lord of the Rings characters, except it’s done as Selene from Underworld.

The Very Secret Diary of Selene

August 4, 1648

Woken from scrummy dream about ponies to discover strange man in my room wearing silly dress and covered in blood. Told me my family had been eaten by monsters and I should put on leather pants and go live with him forever. Agreed instantly.

Looking back, was a tad suspicious.

Part of the reason is that I think Google jumped the gun. In marketing, you have to be careful about when you create a buzz (pun intended). And especially with products like these, they’re only useful if everyone is using them. In both of these cases, I think Google was directing the general tech populace to use products that were incomplete.

With Wave, they should have had permissions from the get-go, so that you could invite people to see, but not edit, a Wave. They have that now, which is nice, but it’s a bit late in the game — comparatively few people regularly use Wave any more. There are a lot of other things they did wrong with Wave, too: it was much buggier than I’d expect from a Google beta, slow as molasses, and too broad in scope. That last one is really what killed it, I think. People generally want a clear path for using a product; they want a sexy sports car, not a bunch of parts that they have to figure out how to best put together to build a sports car that suits their needs.

With Buzz, they went the other way. It’s too damn simple. I have lots of friends. Some I’m closer to than others. Some I want to pay more attention to than others. So maybe I’d like to be able to easily see a Buzz stream from only certain groups, instead of everybody. Maybe once I start or participate in a discussion, I’d like to select whether I get emails specifically for that discussion. (And while I’m at it, hey Facebook! How about being able to turn off receiving emails just because I thumbed-up a post that 50,000 other people feel the need to comment on?) Maybe I would like to have my Twitter posts show up in some decent timeframe, instead of the next day if I’m lucky.

Overall, I love the things Google does. Chrome is amazing, and broke the web browser mold when it came out. Gmail has been my email client of choice for years now. Their search engine revolutionized the web.

Then again, not every hit can be a home run. I like that they’re trying new things! I just think that a lot of these things have great potential, but were executed poorly. And that makes me sad.

However, this time no blood was spilled. I think that might be a first. So, I consider it a success!

I also remembered how annoying it can be to build a system. I got a power source that can handle 2 video cards (“Crossfire capable” they call it, for ATI cards), but the kind I got took both of the power connectors. So I can’t actually use 2 without upgrading my power source. Talking to NewEgg about that, but so far no luck asking for an exchange.

Also, I remembered a little hack for installing Windows clean, using an upgrade disc. You can use an upgrade version as the full version in one of two ways when installing it fresh (i.e. wiping whatever is already on there, if anything: install it fresh and then install it over itself, or (the quicker, easier way) do a simple registry edit.

Something else I realized: I have a Logitech Performance MX wireless mouse (no, I did not just realize this, shut up). It is pretty awesome, but my only complaint has been that it will randomly stick, and for 30 seconds or so it stutters and jumps around the screen when I try to move it. Today I tried something that seems obvious: I moved the damn wireless receiver to a USB port closer to the mouse. Guess what? No issues since then. I know, I’m a frackin’ genius.

Okay, so how does the shiny new system work, you ask?

It’s fast. Very fast. I attribute almost all of that to the SSD. That’s a solid-state drive; a hard drive with no moving parts. They are expensive, for much less space than you will get with a normal hard drive, but they are about twice as fast, 1/4 the size overall, use far less power, make no noise, and emit almost no heat. For laptops, they are about the most awesome thing you can have. For desktops, still quite awesome.

One not-fast bit is logging into Windows. It gets to the login screen, I enter the password, then… it sits there for 20 seconds before continuing. I’m not sure why this is, and I don’t think it initially did it. But it doesn’t happen when I’m waking the computer from sleep or hibernate, and I almost never have cause to do a full power-off or reset, so that’s not really a big deal.

The only other pet peeve I have is that, even though there is a connector for it, the case has no hard drive activity indicator light. And since the SSD is even more silent than a ball-gagged ninja, there’s no way for me to know when lots of hard drive access is going on. I mainly look at this when the system seems to be randomly crunching/slow though, and since that hasn’t yet happened… I can live with it for now.

My work-oriented stuff is very fast as well. We use Subversion, a system that lets multiple people work on the same code at the same time without stepping on each other’s toes, and it also retains a complete history of every change ever made to the code, so that you can roll back if you screw something up. Performing updates and commits with this is very notably faster than it was on my old system (also a quad-core system, with 5 GB of RAM).

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 (AMD, SATA 6Gb/s,USB 3, supports dual video cards)
There were cheaper options, and I’m only getting 1 video card and not 2, but I wanted SATA 6, USB 3, and the possibility for 2 cards, for future upgrades.

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz Quad-Core
Nothing too fancy here.  It’s reasonably fast, but I didn’t want to go crazy.  Processor speed is actually less important to overall system speed than most people think.

Video Card: XFX Radeon 5850 1 GB
Here I splurged a bit.  DirectX 11 card, again looking to the future.  I could have gotten two lesser cards for slightly cheaper, and just as good of performance, but that would be noisier, take more power, and not leave room for future upgrades without replacing both cards. This way if I want more power, I add another 8580 (which by that time will have gone down in price significantly).

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
This is fast RAM.  Not as fast as the motherboard is capable of, but any faster starts quickly driving the price vs. performance into exponential (i.e. bad) territory. The computer I’m on now actually has 5 GB of RAM, so… well, in a few months it’s possible I’ll double this to 8, since I will be using this system as a work computer as well, and that means having lots of memory-intensive applications open.

Hard Drive (system): OCZ Agility 60 GB SSD

This baby is probably the biggest factor in this build affecting normal system performance.  It has a small amount of storage space (as most SSDs do), but solid state disks offer amazing performance. Here is an article from Microsoft about Windows 7’s performance on SSDs, and some of the benefits of SSDs in general. My housemate Cary has one in his Alienware system, and he says he definitely notices the difference. Coworker Sparr had a netbook that ran from an SSD and he also said it performed notably better than a standard hard drive — faster boot-up and overall operation, lower power consumption, no noise. Having your operating system run from one of these will nearly halve your boot-up time. Putting WoW on it will cut your load times similarly.

Hard Drive (storage): Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
This is where media and programs (that don’t need to load up really fast) will go. Nothing too special, though it is the higher-end Western Digital line, with a 32 MB cache. And they say once you go (Western Digital) Black…

Case:  Raidmax Smilodon ATX-612WBP
Honestly I don’t love this case — don’t have it, I just don’t love it.  However, it was on special, and the case is going to sit out of my sight for 99% of the time I’m using the computer anyway, so I mostly just needed something that will hold the rest of the stuff. And it’s not particularly ugly, just not particularly pretty (in my opinion) either.  If I was buying today instead of a few days ago, I’d probably get this case, which they’re running a special on for $50 and free shipping (coupon code TTCPN-N0012USU-FEB10).

There are also some odds and ends, like Scythe Slipstream case fans (better fans, and quieter), a 780W power supply, etc.  This build was mostly based on this article, with upgrades where I felt would be good, and some components switched out where I could find a better deal, or a better product for the same or lesser price. Ironically, since that build was written, some prices have actually gone up (I assume due to the weakening of the dollar, and the fact that most components are made overseas).

I did forget to order a 2.5″ to 3.5″ adapter for the SSD, but that’s livable — I can get one of those for less than $10 somewhere local.

GM, DM, ST, whatever you call the person running the game, they are the ones that set the mood, lay out the plot, and in general keep the game running. We’ve* all experienced good game masters and bad game masters. I’ve been trying to think of some traits that separate the good from the bad.

There’s no formula to being a good storyteller.  But in my experience, good storytellers have some things in common.  A lot of these things have synergy, and sometimes they’re hard to nail down exactly, but I’ll give it a go, based on my personal experience (both as a game master and as a player).

1. Make sure both you and the players are having fun.
   That’s what this is all about, right?  It’s your duty to make sure that the players are having fun, but be sure that you’re having fun running the game, too.  It shouldn’t be a chore!  On that note, know what type of game your players like, and try to give all your players what they’re looking for.  Does Al really love combat and number-crunching, but Bill loves plot and intrigue?  Find a way to mix things up so that everyone gets to do what they enjoy.
2. Make sure the player characters are the stars.
   Pretty much all players have the most fun when their characters are doing cool things.  So let the player characters have the spotlight, and do cool things.  One of the mortal sins of game mastering (which I’ve committed myself, sadly) is tossing in powerful NPCs on the players’ side, and making the players themselves into side-characters.
3. Give everyone their time in the spotlight.
   Related to the item above, make sure each player has their time to shine.  Some players like to hog the spotlight, so you do have to be careful of that.  On a related note, if the group splits up (as player parties have a tendency to do), make sure that you’re giving each sub-group an appropriate amount of time and attention.  This also means that you should switch your attention between the groups on a regular basis; no one should sit around and twiddle their thumbs for an hour.
4. Be flexible.
   The players will absolutely fuck up your plot and take it in directions that you didn’t necessarily want it to go, or didn’t foresee.  When given clues that seem as obvious as a sledgehammer to the face, they will overlook them.  When given ultra-subtle clues, they will connect the dots way earlier than you expected them to.  If you just want to tell a linear story, then write a book.  Roleplaying is an interactive experience of telling a story, and though you as the game master might have more sway over things than players, avoid railroading your players at all costs.  I personally find that it’s better to give players challenges without having set solutions in mind, to promote this sort of flexibility and to allow the players to really flex their creativity. More often than not, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what they come up with, and players’ creativity should be rewarded.
5. Be creative.
   No one’s saying you have to be the Picasso of the game mastering world.  But do try to explore some different themes in your games.  Mix up your NPCs — maybe the antagonist one storyline is an evil plotter, and in another it’s a relentless thug, and in another it’s someone with good intentions but an “ends justifies the means” mentality.  Use different voices and mannerisms when speaking as different NPCs. Tricks like including physical handouts or representations of in-game artifacts (an old photograph, half-burned note, etc.) and using some non-invasive background music are good ways to help immerse the players and set the mood.
6. Control the game session.
   Don’t bring a whip to crack at anyone who ventures off-topic or out of character (unless that’s your bag), but do remember that you’re there to play a game.  Don’t let a rules discussion go on for 20 minutes — just say, “This is what I’m ruling, we can talk about it after the game.”  If you’re running a one-shot at a convention, feel free to say, “Okay, I’m making it a rule that the party has to stay together. We don’t have enough time to deal with splitting up.”  This is also related to #3, above.

What do you think?  Are there any important traits that I left out?

* By “we” I mean people who have done a fair amount of roleplaying, so probably most of the people reading this.

Here are some reasons why people argue against gay marriage, followed by why those reasons are not valid concerns.

• Gay marriage is against the Bible
  Well that’s fine. No one is trying to force your church to hold a marriage ceremony for two people that it doesn’t agree with.  If your argument is that gay marriage should be illegal because the Christian church (mostly) disagrees with it, I point you toward one of the founding principles of our country: the separation of church and state.
• Gay marriage is wrong because it can’t produce offspring
  If a woman is incapable of bearing children, should she be disallowed from getting married?  I doubt you’d agree to that.  Oh, but the barren woman could adopt,you say?  Well then why not a gay couple?  The arguments for/against gay people being allowed to adopt is, I feel, a separate issue.  However, undoubtedly you’ll say…
• Gay people shouldn’t have kids because there is no father/mother figure
  Then if a child’s father dies, and the mother doesn’t immediately re-marry, you absolutely must be in favor of taking the child away from the mother into protective services.  What, you’re not in favor of that? That’s not the same? Yes it is. In fact, it’s an even worse situation for the child, if anything — at least with a gay couple, it is not a single-parent situation.
• If we allow gay marriage, then what’s to stop us from allowing a man and his dog to get married?
  Really? Does anyone seriously think that this argument holds water? They must, because I’ve seen it in so many places. Marriage is a legal contract between two people of age. Two people. If you can’t enter into a contract with something (which you can’t, with an animal), then you can’t marry it. Why is that so hard to understand?

The exact same arguments being made against gay marriage today were made against interracial marriage many years ago — it’s against the Bible, it’s immoral, it’s not good for the kids, most people are against it.  Decades from now when gay marriage is allowed (I firmly believe it’s inevitable that it will be), the people who are giving those arguments against gay marriage will be looked upon the same way that we now look upon the people who gave those arguments against interracial marriage.

Honestly, I think the term “marriage” should be removed altogether from the law, in favor of civil unions for everyone.  If John and Jane want to get married, that’s fine — the law recognizes it as a civil union, the same as if John and Dick want to do the same thing. Again, let’s remember that one of the concepts that this nation was founded on is the separation of church and state. Christianity should be treated no differently, where the government is concerned, than any other religion.

Sadly (or perhaps it’s a good thing), there’s no one formula I use. Sometimes I will think, “Wow, that’s a neat power/ability! I think I’ll design a character around that.”  Sometimes I’ll be intrigued by a character in a movie or book, see a synergy in them with another character from some different series (or half-formed concept already lurking in my brain), and combine the two (or more) into something new.  Sometimes I hear a particularly awesome song and it just gives me a concept.  That last was how I made my character Sammael; here’s the song (not sure if this will work in Facebook, so if not, the file is here):

The child-like-yet-creepy tune gave me the image of a kid in a cathedral with dead bodies all around him.  I let the scene play out in my head, and created a character from the result.  What caused the scene?  What happened before?  What would it do to a child, and what would they end up like after?  Just a small jump from one step to the next, and by the time it’s done, you have a character.

But more often than not, inspiration strikes randomly. I’m not sure what path those neural impulses take, but one minute I’ll be all, “Mmmm, steak,” and the next it’s, “Wouldn’t it be neat if there were a modern-day cop who worshiped Aztec gods and made human sacrifices out of really evil people that got let go due to legal loopholes?”

So if I had to nail down a formula, here would be the steps (though sometimes the order shifts drastically):

1. Figure out the character concept — the core of who the character is, what they do, and why.  This part is actually pretty easy for me.
2. Flesh out the personality.  Give the character some quirks.  If the character concept follows a stereotype, find some ways to break the mold.
3. Write a background story.  This part is also pretty easy, but requires a bit more discipline.
4. Fill out the character sheet.  Also easy, once the above are complete.
5. Come up with a name for the character.  Hardest part, almost without fail.

I’ve found that once I’ve done 1-3, the character sheet comes almost without thought.  By that point, I know the character.  I know what they’re good at, what they like, what they would have practiced and studied.  So filling out the skills, powers, and the rest of the character sheet is easy.

Step 5, ironically, probably takes me longer than any of the other steps.  I don’t like just giving a character any name; I like to give them a name that “feels” right for them, that evokes the right emotions, and that often takes a while.

Overall, I find that I enjoy characters as much as playing them, on average.  Sometimes I have more fun making the character than playing it, or vice-versa, but in the end it’s about even.  If there’s one thing I like about being the storyteller/gamemaster/what-have-you, it’s that I get to create and play a bunch of different characters.

This time, it’s my pet insurance company, PetsBest.com. First, a bit of background information.

A few years back, my dog Kayla started limping on her right leg.  Some days it was better, some days it was worse.  I feared that she was developing a problem with her hip, so I took her to the vet.  After some x-rays, it became apparent that it was actually her knee — she had a cruciate ligament tear (the dog equivalent of an ACL injury).  I was referred to a surgeon, who verified the tear, and gave two options for treatment.  Option 1 was essentially a tough rubber-band-like-thing to replace the missing ligament.  This was cheaper, but would only last a few years, and wouldn’t give her full mobility back.  Option 2 was a tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO), wherein they basically cut the leg bone and reorient how the knee works, so that ligament isn’t needed any more.  I went for option 2, even though it was pricey.

The surgeon also informed me that there was about a 90% likelihood that she’d need it in the other leg at some point.  So, I immediately got some insurance for her.  After looking around, I went with Pets Best — seemed pretty affordable and they had a few different service levels.

Fast forward a little less than a year.  Kayla was starting to limp on her left leg.  I held out for a while, but things got progressively worse and I went ahead and booked her for the second surgery.  Before that, I called Pets Best to double-check what the policy was.  They said since it was more than a year since I started the policy, it should be covered (assuming no actual rupture had occurred in that first year).  There were signs that it would rupture within that first year, but no actual rupture.  Regardless, knowing how insurance companies are, I was a little concerned.

Well, I didn’t need to be.  They paid for every bit that they had promised — the maximum that the policy would cover for that sort of surgery.  A typical insurance company would have looked for loopholes (it was not a cheap surgery by any means, and they’re not likely to ever get that much back from me in policy premiums).  But they didn’t.  I also found out that their policy was one of the best in the industry as far as cruciate tears; other companies have a minimum 18+ month period between the start of the policy and when they will cover that surgery.

Every time I’ve called in, I’ve gotten on the phone with a real human being within 30 seconds. Their associates have always been incredibly courteous and helpful, while not over-promising — no bait and switch, just honest and up-front.  Dealing with them feels like dealing with real people, not corporate ass-hats.

Creating a character is one of the defining parts of roleplaying games, and as a player it’s the first thing that you do after acquainting yourself with the rules (or sometimes even before that!).  Your character is the extension of yourself in the game world, the one and only tool you have to interact with the story.

I think there are as many different ways of creating a character as there are players who create them, if not more.  But there are some general themes people tend to follow.  There is no best way, except the way that is best for you personally.  As for me, I tend to use many different methods, depending on how inspiration strikes.

Some people just play themselves in a game.  The character’s personality is the player’s personality.  The primary benefit is that you don’t even have to pause to think what your character would say or do in any given situation; your character reacts as you would.  There is no qualm of, “Would my character be upset by this?  Would s/he like this person?”  Especially for many people new to roleplaying, this is the easiest way to get into it.  You’re playing the role of… yourself.  On the downside, the line between in-character and 0ut-of-character is easy to blur.  Someone insults your character, it’s easy to take it as an insult to yourself.  Your character fails, it feels more like you’ve failed.  So while I might recommend this for people new to roleplaying, I’d always recommend it stressing those warnings.

Some players take inspiration from other sources when creating a character.  ”I think Spike is really awesome, so I’m going to create an Exalted version of him.”  This is very common, and has a similar benefit as the “playing yourself” method of character design.  You’re already familiar with the character, so you have a better idea of how they should react when presented with any given situation.  Personally, I like melding different sources and adding a twist, to create something my own.

Some players create something entirely from scratch, or from different inspiration altogether — maybe a song, or a line from a poem.  This is probably the most challenging method of character creation.  You write the background, and you try to get inside the character’s head, but really until you’re playing the character, it’s hard to get a handle on it.  But eventually, this is where characters can take on a life of their own — where, in thinking as the character might, a thought or line comes into your head that never would have, otherwise.  Of course, sometimes people who successfully pull this off end up playing the same character over and over again, because they like their creation so much.  When you create something awesome, it’s easy to get attached to it, which runs many of the same risks as playing yourself does.

I personally tend to use a mesh of the previous two paragraphs.  I’d be interested to hear other people’s takes on how they go about it.  In my next post I’ll go into a bit more detail on some of my own methods.