Leading Into The New Year: What I've Been Up To

I've been rather negligent at updating of late, for a handful of reasons. I'm to the point where I'm comfortable defining those reasons: my projects for the new year.

• Unnamed 1930s Mythos-Based Urban Fantasy Campaign
• Shadowrun Introductory Campaign (to segue into my core Shadowrun campaign)
• Legacy - a board/card game that I'm not quite ready to debut
• The Long Night - A Vampire: the Dark Ages mod for Crusader Kings II
• Vessel - an RPG ruleset/setting in a modern urban fantasy environment

Kill Team!

Games Workshop has released a digital ruleset for a squad-based 40k they've neglected since 2nd Edition -- Kill Team!  Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

As a little Christmas present, I was going to try to make a working Santa + Reindeer ship in Kerbal Space Program, fly it through low orbit, and take a screenshot. I failed. Merry Christmas!

Deadzone has arrived!

Merry Christmas to me!  Deadzone has arrived.

Sadly, I need to rush out of town.  Unboxing/pictures to come.

The Kill Count of Arnold Schwartzenegger

509 kills, per Laughing Squid:

You're welcome.

Employing Horror Despite Technology, pt 2

Following up Monday's post about counteracting the use of cell phones in a modern Horror RPG setting, I'm going to talk about the Internet today.  One of the major threats to supernatural entities is exposure, and the internet is the ultimate in exposure.  Here are some ways to handle it.

Employing Horror Despite Technology, pt. 1

A recent hypothesis was recently posed to me by a friend about how supernatural suspense/horror would be different with the use of modern technology -- cell phones, the internet, and other forms of instantaneous communication.

How EA Can Turn The NCAA Suit Into an Opportunity for Profit

With the NCAA declining to allow EA to publish a NCAA Football game while the suit over players' likenesses is resolved, EA is left with one of their star sports franchises in limbo for the next year.  Rather than letting this become a handicap, EA has a unique chance to alter their business model to seize an opportunity.

Crusader Kings 2 Event Modding

Found a guide on the forum that's very helpful.

Heroquest Returns

My occasional browsing of Kickstarter turned up a new edition of the game.  Check it out!

My Take on the Garrison

In the World of Warcraft Warlords of Draenor's announcement at Blizzcon, one of the features that I scratched my head about was the Garrison.  And then I saw this blurb on the Blizzard page here:

"To clash with the greatest army Draenor has ever known, you’ll need your own forces and your own fortress. Construct a mighty garrison: an enduring home base integrated seamlessly with the world, not a hiding spot far from the action. Customize it with specialized structures like farms, stables, armories, workshops and more.

Establish trade routes and unlock new quests, gear and pets to support your war for Draenor. Recruit stalwart followers to man your base, and send them to loot dungeons, fulfill missions, and craft items, even if you’re offline. Tame a deadly realm, and build an unbreakable monument to victory."

Why It's Taken Years for Blizzard to Update Models

Saw this fascinating article on Reddit the other day.

It explains why Blizzard has taken literally five years to update WoW models.

Warlords of Draenor Announced

At-tack!

Mantic is at it again on Kickstarter, and this time, they're doing a tactical war/board game based on the Mars Attacks franchise.  Entry level for the full game comes in at $100, but the kickstarter (here) features a number of things I'm excited about in the 28mm space:

* 28mm modern civilian miniatures
* easy damaged urban brick walls, as well as intact urban walls.
* Atenocities 28mm urban terrain


These in addition to the 28mm US soldiers and martians (and flying saucers) you'd probably expect.  Check it out!

Crusader Kings 2 Portrait Modding

While browsing the forums, I found this little gem about modifying portraits, complete with a tutorial for giving characters with a "cool" trait some sweet shades.

You're welcome.

A Reminder

Friday is Blizzcon, and it looks to be a particularly big one this year.

November

A heads up: November's going to be a rough month for me, and updates will come in, but may be a bit slow.  I've had a family emergency, I'm doing National Novel Writing Month, and I've gotten myself neck-deep in a yet-unannounced project that I will eventually gleefully share.

AMD Fires Back at Nvidia

For a generation, AMD has been playing a significant amount of catchup to Intel, and their new graphics subsidiary, Nvidia.  AMD has been so far behind that Intel floated a graphics card that costs more than most people put into their computers -- the GTX Titan, with a whopping MSRP of $1,000.  AMD has finally bested that with a graphics card that releases at half that graphics price point, the 290x, reviewed here.

Update: Not to be outdone, Intel dropped their prices, only for AMD to drop a $400 290, again staying on top at half the price.

Forget Durumu

If you're anything like me, no amount of text walkthrough helps in Throne of Thunder's fight with Durumu the Forgotten.  Here's a handy little guide to the maze portion of the fight.

Warhammer Online: Five Things It Did Amazingly

EA's closure announcement for Warhammer Online comes at no surprise to me.  It was strong at the beginning, largely due to the strength of the IP, the hope of a PVP-driven MMO, and glorious promises of besieging cities that went unfulfilled until well after release due to bugs, lag, an unforgiving endgame, and graphics requirements.  Its initial strength was enough for Blizzard to re-imagine multiple zones at the end of Wrath of the Lich King's development into something simulating the major promise of the game -- PvE development in PvP lakes, and siege mechanics.  Despite Blizzard's best effort being largely ham-handed and leaving Wintergrasp as a poor knock-off of the RvR zone mechanics, its frustrations led the player base to bleed subscriptions until its death was largely inevitable.  There were many innovations, however, that Mythic did bring to the table in a manner that Blizzard simply would not or could not cannibalize.

Easy WOW LFR Guides

While browsing, I found No Life at 90, a blog that has wonderfully detailed guides to each LFR fight, complete with different reports for different roles (DPS, tank, healer).  The best part?  They're succinct, with blurbs short enough that you can know the fight in the time it takes the tank, healer, etc to get ready.

The Herald: Police Charity Benefit This Saturday

 Sept. 20, 2052

The Federal Police hold their annual charity ball at the Quetzal hotel and casino at the mouth of the Occoquan river this Saturday.