Frak, Frel and Other "F" Words

What about equipment though? Some of the ME stuff is definitely out there. My thinking along these lines is to keep it simple: "Omnitools" are just TL10 (?) wearable computers with holographic displays and the appropriate computer programs loaded in. So a hacker would have intrusion stuff, an engineer would have building stuff, a physician or medic would have a medical scanner (UT200) built in and so on. The holos that appear are just special effects that don't really have a lot of actual use (and could probably be turned off or muted or just seriously altered.) I suppose it could be a portable universal mini-tool (UT85), but that doesn't work for me. Medigel ... is problematic. Will probably need to let players know beforehand that doesn't exist because honestly, that robs of all the danger. Personal shields are relatively easy to figure out - they're additional DR. UT190 has the following: " A force screen’s Damage Resistance is semi-ablative: ever...

As stated, my original thinking was to start with the PCs on a ship about to crash. Following that line of thought, this is what I'm thinking the initial story arc would be: Begin  in media res . All PCs at different locations on an Alliance ship that is going down! They must get to the nearest escape pod while the ship disintegrates around them. Think opening scene of Mass Effect 2 (which is still the best opening of the three games.) Maybe run this as a modified Chase of some sort? As "luck" would have it, the only remaining escape pod thing is where all of the PCs end up converging so they get away from the ship together. But then, their pod gets clipped by something and sends them tumbling out of control. The g-forces knock them out. When they wake, they find themselves dirtside, short of pretty much everything. As they weren't on duty at the time of the initial surprise attack, none of them have a lot of gear. Fortunately, this is a military escape pod so th...

It dropped today so I expect my weekend is mostly locked. I fully expect to enjoy the show - Netflix has been killing it with their Marvel properties: DD s1 was great, JJ was good (if admittedly so dark that I'm actually not interested in watching it again), and DD s2 was fricking awesome with the Punisher & Elektra and ninjas! - while simultaneously hating the music because I don't like hip-hop or rap or urban or whatever they're calling it now.

Continuing my "thinking out loud" process here, I want to turn to characters. Now, the initial plan was to being in media res with the PCs aboard a crashing starship, which sort of indicates that they would start out in the same unit. However, what I'm currently thinking is that they don't know each other very well at all, so logically, it would work better if they weren't in the same squad or platoon or whatever. Perhaps instead, have them all be in the same battalion (equivalent) so some of them may recognize the others but only by sight. That works better because it means some (or all) could have dark secrets that come to light later. With regards to team make-up, I really like the stuff in Action 4: Specialists which lets you pick and choose elements from a basic template. Totally thinking of going with that. I also really dig the way ME1 split up your version of Space Jesus into two groups of categories. The first is their origin which is one of three: ...

Some interesting ideas have sort of materialized with regards to this game concept. In short: What if the game is initially set before the first Mass Effect and then ends the initial run with the PCs arriving at Eden Prime? This would hint at an offscreen TPK (total party kill) caused by the arrival of Saren, Sovereign and the Geth, but E.P. is a big planet. Surely there's a place for the PCs to kick a bunch of ass and not be whacked, yeah?  In ME1, we learn that the Normandy and thus, Shepard, were meant for the 63rd Scout Flotilla commanded by Rear Admiral Mikhailovich. This seems like an ideal place for the PCs to be based.  If the PCs are actively in pursuit of a former Council Spectre who ostensibly went rogue and was then later dealt with by Saren, a crossover between them and the Normandy crew seems inevitable, especially if any of the PCs have served with/under Shepard. Thus, they could exchange notes.  Would be awesome if could find some really cool sp...

I freaking hate them. I'm in a foul mood and not up for dealing with anyone today, which is bad enough but given that I can find no discernible reason for my foul mood, it's even worse. Slept well enough - went to bed a lot later than I should have, but that's not a killer as I'm totally alert and not at all tired - and there hasn't been anything that really pisses me off for any reason ... so I'm just irritated because of ... reasons? Gah. Want a do-over. No, wait. I don't want to repeat this day at all. Screw that. And on top of that, I still don't know what to do for NaNoWriMo 2016 this year...

Logged out of that platform this morning. The more I read about the business practices of Twitter, the less I like it and honestly, it doesn't accomplish anything for me. I already waste too much time online in a day as it is, so this is my first step in reclaiming myself from the sewer that is most social media. I've already significantly curtailed my presence over at Facebook - so much so, in fact, that I've received a couple of emails from online friends wondering if I'm okay or wishing I would talk to them via FB, even though I've sort of made it clear that I'm sick and tired of that platform, especially due tot he various political BS that one has to wade through this time of year. Even the so-called joke accounts are clearly run by leftists as every time something new comes up, I have to grit my teeth at the sheer bias involved. So very, very tired of that crap. There's a reason why I've tuned out of so much entertainment - NFL? Done, what with far...

Finished out Mass Effect 1 last night and it occurred to me that a lot of the problems that Shepard experiences in this game could have been resolved if the ultra tech society that has folding up weapons, the capability to dissolve pretty much any bit of equipment into "omni-gel", and easily portable "virtual intelligences" bothered to put functional helmet cams (complete with audio recording) on the their armor. Seriously, everyone is all "You're the only on who saw/heard/talked with X..." throughout the entire game (which flatly ignores the two other characters with Shepard during the op), so it stands to reason that they should have taken some sort of recording bit. Hell, when Tali is introduced, she has a recording of Saren & Benezia! Fridge logic at its best.

In my office, I have several windows that look out over another office area. There is a No Smoking within 25 feet sign and a lady in that business is always right next to it when she ducks out for a smoke. Seems impossible for her to not to be aware of that signage. It's right there! Seems like she's intentionally going to that very spot...

Started replaying Mass Effect last week, this time on the desktop. Really wish I hadn't because now I'm sort of thinking about how I would run a ME game in GURPS ... and because my brain is wired to react in a certain way, I'm having to jot down my story notes or it just won't leave me alone. So what I'm thinking is thus:  Mass Effect: Counterstrike (although Mass Effect: Incursion has a nice ring to it as well...) Set during ME1, but is not intended to cross-over in any major way. Minor ways, yes, but not major. All PCs are human and members of the Alliance military. This is non-negotiable, although a single government operative might be a valid character idea. Begin in media res with PCs aboard a crashing starship originally bound for Eden Prime (to lend disaster relief). Initial adventure sequence deals with characters first surviving the crash (hopefully), then determining the cause of the crash (Batarian slavers seems logical) and dealing with the thr...

So, it's rapidly approaching and, to be honest, I really haven't written much of anything in a long time. In between running my various RPGs (Red Sky & Casus Belli), I've been fairly busy with work and just generally haven't felt like doing anything. That said, I really do need to write something and am thinking about trying to finish "Aspects of Silver," my psuedo-Heroic Greece (like) fantasy novel. It is currently about halfway done with the first two parts being 21,710 words and 31,194 words respectively. Part three was started but I petered out, although I do have the outline for both part three and four complete. Am still very proud of the very first line: Four years ago, prophecy died. Yeah. Think I'm going to try to work on that again ...

Went biking after work yesterday and managed the usual 18 miles. Looks like there's a 50% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday (boo!) and a 100% on Sunday ... wonder if I'll still be able to work in my (hopefully) 40-mile ride on Saturday morning? Have now entered the post-Casus Belli "scheduling" and planning phase but, as expected, I'm already struggling to get the players to actually respond. That means I'm likely going to get irritated soon and shift all of my focus onto Red Sky, my other game (the Friday face-to-face one.)

Good advice. Going to have to remember this when I get on the bike again Saturday for the (hopefully) 40+ mile ride.  Avoid Bonking on the bike with these easy tips

Managed to get in 18 miles on the bike this morning before I came into work so ... yay, me. Decided to bring my bike into work afterward so I could swap out my seat because ugh, the one that came with this Wal-Mart special is atrocious. Ideally, I should have gotten up a little earlier than I did ... or more accurately, I should have gotten out of bed before I did. Instead, I rolled over and went back to sleep for another thirty minutes or so, which resulted in me getting into work almost twenty minutes late. Something to work on, I guess.

Finished up my run for "season 2" of this campaign and have entered the hiatus period where I play and plan for the next "season" (or run my Friday game.) Recap for 2x13 is online and it was pretty decent overall, though I do wish I'd had more for the other players during the big duel at the end. This marks (I think) the first time with the Saturday group that we've actually had a PC death and honestly, even if it hadn't been planned, I don't know if the character could have survived. He had failed a death check already and was thus, mortally wounded, but the poison in his system was going to keep going for quite a while, so ... ah well. Now I'm on to brainstorming for season 3 and am wanting to change things up a little, mostly in regards to the PCs having more of an active role with regards to determining what they do next. Am already planning a 5 year timeskip and ideally, I'd like to emulate that cool war table thing from Dragon Age: I...

Everything was fine until around mile 33, at which point my energy level nose-dived and it was a real struggle to finish up. Admittedly, got off to a bad start - the so-called crossover points around Riverside frankly kind of suck except for one so I ended up going way out of my way trying to get back on track and then ended up cutting through a muddy field. Observation: road bikes are not good in mud. At all. So my pace was way down and I don't think I every really recovered it (hence the crappy duration.)  Next milestone is 40 miles.

So, Saturday will be the conclusion of "season 2" of this campaign run and I'll (gladly) go into hiatus for a time. This will be 13 episodes, which is better than the 12 I'd originally planed but not quite twice. I had material for at least two more eps after this one (probably three or four given how the PCs prevaricate) so why stop now? In a word: death. One of the players whose character is one of the primary if not the primary driver of the story had an idea about killing off his PC for dramatic effect; he has said that he's been enjoying the campaign and will miss the character and I have no reason to doubt him (even though I've made more than a few missteps along the way), but he was completely right in that having this character die will radically shake things up. And, as luck would have it, this upcoming installment fits the story narrative for that perfectly. So, in an ideal world, we'll end at the normal time with his character's tragic and...

Mmm ... Daisy looks awesome...not quite as enthusiastic about Ghost Rider being there, especially since its the crappy car version and not the awesome motorcycle one. Would actually like to see them facing off against some other alphabet agencies (AIM, for example) or maybe working to setup SWORD ...

Still working up to 30 miles, but this is definitely improvement. According to MapMyRide, I just burned more calories in that bike ride than I'm allotted to eat today ... and I rarely hit that limit. Providing my bathroom scale isn't lying to me, I've officially lost 32.6 pounds since I started this program. Very not bad.