Morning Is Too Damn Early...

It's early as as I write this. Earlier than usual anyway. Last night was odd for me. Tonight is Friday Night Magic at the store and I've got a ton to get done before it happens. It probably wasn't a good idea staying up until 2:45AM knowing this, but I finally started getting some work on the game system (DICEBAG) done.

Mostly, I created a simple logo which didn't make me wretch and I began stripping any genre-specific elements out of the current version of the rules and stuffed those elements into genre/setting modules. While I was doing that, I came up with a way to handle automatic-/burst-fire weapons in the system that is actually very workable. You'll begin to see this progress once I have time to set up a Scribd account, but that time is not now.

Off to be productive now on just 4.25 hours of sleep. Wish me luck...

-- GopherDave

Grumble...

I learned a lesson this morning... Nothing triggers a grumpy feeling faster than a missionary knocking on your door at 9:45AM when you are trying to get ready for work. Don't get me wrong. I'm a Christian. I love God. I *HATE* church, and I dislike anyone trying to sell church (or anything else for that matter) to me, regardless of the time of day. My basic take on solicitation and solicitors is this.. If I have not dealt with you in the past, please don't come asking me for my money/time now. It just interrupts my day.

I have found that owning a business, even one with a "No Solicitation" sign posted next to the door, just sort of attracts all sorts of folks who think that sign does not apply to them. People have walked into the store trying to sell me everything from perfume and cookies to long-distance service and direct advertising. There are times when I listen to their pitch, but for the most part, it falls under the heading of... "Did I call you? No. Have we ever done business before? No. Do you represent someone that I have done business with before? No. Then what the hell are you doing here?"

The best incident was a direct marketer for a local tire place who had two different representatives come into the store on the same day. Yes, these were college kids trying to make some money, but I'm not certain I care. I didn't appreciate it the first time they showed up, and it really upset me when another person selling the same thing walk through the door 40 minutes later. Why would anyone try to sell tires door-to-door?

Phone solicitors are sometimes just as bad. We once had ADT call us three times within a four-hour period to sell us alarm service. The first time, I politely asked them not to call us again. The second time I was less polite. The third time, I asked for a supervisor, and them promptly chewed them out for 15 minutes. They haven't called back since.

We've also had similar experiences with AT&T after we had dropped their service due to incompetence shown when we moved the store back in 2009 (Loquacious has 30+ pages documentation on that debacle). Representatives for AT&T kept calling trying to get us to switch back, even going to the point of offering us $600 in credit to do so. We kept refusing, and told them to stop calling. They didn't listen. Eventually, I had had enough and the poor girl on the other end of the next AT&T call really didn't know what had hit her when I began a profanity-laced tirade, demanded to speak to her supervisor, and told them in no uncertain terms that even if they gave us seven figures in cash, we wanted nothing more to do with them.

If I want something, I know what I need to do to make it happen. Folks that I call almost always get our business. Those that call us out of the blue, rarely do...

-- GopherDave

The End Is The Beginning...

Well, I called it, though to be honest, it was an easy call to make. Last night was the last run of KnightErrantJR's DC Adventures game. I'm sad, because I enjoyed my cynical telekinetic a great deal, but I could also see where the road he was on was leading him. It wasn't pretty.

In it's place, KEJR will be starting a Mutants & Masterminds 3E game. It will be a lower power level than usual to start (PL 8), but I actually enjoy games like that more. It lets characters grow "naturally" into what they will become, rather than just springing into being fully-formed. It also helps groups grow and bond together. I'm not entirely certain what sort of character I'm going to play in terms of powers, but I'm pretty certain he will be of a better disposition personality-wise.

Ducks are lining up nicely and I am hoping to get some of the convention work done tonight. I'm not exactly certain what parts I'm going to work on, but something will happen. I do have a related question. Blogger doesn't let one host files such as PDFs from what I can tell. Anyone have a spot that can host files that can then be downloaded? I'm thinking DropBox, but I'm not certain if that's what I want. Basically, I'm looking for a place to put working copies of the rulebook as I work on it where other folks can download it and peruse it. That way, anyone who wants to can see the progress that's being made.

Just a thought...

-- GopherDave

Breathers Are Good...

Okay... Today has been a touch busy. Add to that the fact that I overslept by about 80 minutes, and I've been behind the 8-Ball all day. Things have slowed down enough that I could do this.

Not much happened last night on the game system front. I did find some older notes that had stuff that I was looking to have to not mentally replicate. Basically notes on a magic system I've toyed with in the past, and a handful of notes concerning modern-day firearms. Having these notes helps as I am not writing a system from scratch, but instead revising one of my more successful homebrew engines.

Mentally, I did put some ducks in some rows and have determined that the work I need to do for the Winter War events can easily be done in the time I have. Now if I try to do all of the work I *WANT* to do, the time crunch becomes more pressing. Plus, it involves finding semi-talented artists who will work for cheap/nothing. Not an easy task.

Tonight, I get to play Marathon in DC Adventures, possibly for the last time. KnightErrantJR has said that we are nearing the end of the campaign. It saddens me, because I absolutely enjoy playing Marathon, but I also understand finite plot arcs. Oh well... If he runs something else in the slot, I'll jump into that, if he'll have me.

Oh well... once more, into the breach...

-- GopherDave

4 For 40...

I worked on the event descriptions for next year's convention, and this is what I have. These have all been submitted and are awaiting approval. Since it is the fortieth year of the convention, I am calling this, as titled above, my "4 For 40". The descriptions are limited to 300 characters, so these had to be severely edited and tightened up. I'm not entirely happy with them, but they shall do.

Enjoy!

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Title: Showdown at Shadow Gulch

Genre: Western; # of Players: 6
Description: “Cattle done been diappearin’ off our lands fer a while, and th’ sheriff done took a posse ta go after th’ no-good rustlin’ varmints, but we ‘taint seen ‘em fer days. Guessin’ we gots ta call in th’ marshals, now…”

Title: Vertigo Dreams

Genre: Modern-Day Conspiracy; # of Players: 6
Description: An admissions spike to local psych care units can in no way be related to the increased use of Sueño Crystal, can it? The agents of Q-Division know better, though. When something goes bump in the night, Q-D agents are the ones who bump back. So what happens when there is a second round?

Title: The Depths of the Rainbow

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Low Fantasy; # of Players: 6
Description: In the third age of Tai’eres, survival is the prime concern. Food is scarcer than danger in the wasted lands of the world, and now, young warrior, it is your time to help insure your people’s continued existence. To the Bloodmist Peaks you wander, in search of items edible or tradable.

Title: Incident at Sigma Omicron 2

Genre: Sci-Fi/Space Opera;# of Players: 6
Description: A station on the fringe of Commonwealth space is not always the most low-key of places. More business, legal and illegal, is done in the watering holes of S-O2 than happens in most of Terra’s financial hubs. So no one asks a lot of questions of a paying fare that needs off the station quickly.