Reality Blurs

Freedom or Focus: How Do You Roll?

Sean Preston — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:45:29 +0000

Okay. Busy doing business today, so the poll I took on topics is going to wait until Monday. I have ideas, but I need space to fully explore them. Today is not that day.

I have a question for you to mull over (while I’m mulling on some other things) and here it is.

When you are playing a roleplaying game, do you prefer freedom of choice (you can do pretty much what you want) or do you want a narrow focus?

Think about this. There is no wrong answer. Probably. I’m curious to hear how you weigh in on this. Pick from the perspective of you can choose only one. No waffling or fence setting please.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Agents of Oblivion: Coming Soon to a Shelf Near You!

Sean Preston — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:01:32 +0000

Here’s the skinny. I wanted to make sure everything is sorted before sharing this with you, but I have the proof in hand and the books should be arriving in the warehouse by the end of next week and start wending their way to you if you’ve taken advantage of our preorders. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until it hits shelves in March.

I should also add, this book is going to retail for $29.99, so you’ll definitely want to take advantage of it on our shop immediately for the best deal. Why do I say that? Because I’ve been busy and we haven’t adjusted the prices yet. The price increase goes in effect tomorrow. Sure, you can wait, but if you’re on the fence, come over to our side now. You won’t be sorry.

Front (From the It’s Finally Real/It’s Finally Here Department!)

Semi-Random Interior Page Spread

The never before seen back cover (unless you follow @RealityBlurs on Twitter and then you’ve possibly seen it).

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Upcoming Topics (or Not)

Sean Preston — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:31:37 +0000

Today was a hugely busy day and I’ve got some upcoming commitments, so I can’t tarry long here today, but I didn’t want to miss saying hello! So hello!

There are a few topics I want to talk about. Which would you like to hear me talk about first? If you have suggestions, as always, post them.

In no particular order:

1. Con prep

2. Getting meta (breaking the fourth wall, using other techniques in play)

3. GM Tips

4. Design tips

Low and slow. That is the tempo. If you have any questions or want clarifications, let me know in the comments below. Who knows? You might springboard my next RWR!

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Voices Carry

Sean Preston — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:25:44 +0000

Simmer down and gather round the campfire and I’ll tell you what I was up to today. In short, I went through Ravaged Earth again, dealing with the tweaks and amendments Eric gave me. I’m still not quite ready to cut the document. I’m trying to see if I can make it work without reducing the page count. There is a lot of good stuff in between the pages, I assure you.

What else has yours truly been up to? Well, I’ve been reading some shadow documents in my spare hours and am keeping an eye on my mailbox for something for which I’m unsure you have the clearance to know about just yet.

The latter part of the afternoon consisted of the starting phase of the last stage of putting together the Fantasy Craft edition of Iron Dynasty. It is chock full of really good stuff and I went to give a shout out to the crew for all their hard work on it. I cannot wait to get this out to you guys.

I’m wanting to get more words on paper, so I’ve begun taking my work home with me. I mean, more accurately, into some of my off hours. I caution you to temper your enthusiasm or you can either suffer from it waning or eventually being overwhelmed with fatigue. Breaks are good. I’m a firm believer in them. And as one who tries to practice what I preach, I’m going to finally try to get a little gaming in this evening.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

You Must Be This High To Ride This Ride: Thresholds in Gaming

Sean Preston — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:10:45 +0000

I was talking with a buddy of mine earlier about the wondrously beautiful thing that is Skyrim. For all it does well, there is always room for improvement and we’re going to discuss one little element which got us both about design in general. The element in question? Quest thresholds.

In Skyrim, you can pretty much follow any quest line whenever you want and you don’t necessarily have to be the best wizard to become the archmage. Certainly, this would be a value add if the game required certain thresholds before you move on, so what do you think? Should roleplaying games (be they tabletop or video) have something like that built in or not? Sound off, will ya?

Yes, I have more news to impart, but, hey, I gotta save something for tomorrow and this topic really has got me thinking. You respond today and I will totally respond with a follow up to this.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Missive 18: A Plot Twist for Roma Bellica

ewetterman — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:01:38 +0000

So the team was successful with the first mission. I’d begin with another interlude session, and some role playing with Nora, perhaps a trip around their new home, a shopping trip, dancing at a local club, or something that yields some familiarity and normality. Get the team out and having fun. But of course this is an Agents campaign and we should throw something at the agents they don’t expect. How about an unexpected brush with the supernatural?

So let’s generate a new creature of some sort that is out hunting victims and happens to cross our hero’s paths.

I roll a 4, so it’s a Creature/Alien/ExDB/Entity, a 5 creates a Reptilian creature. For Monstrous Abilities I roll Hardy and Armor +2, wow this sucker is gonna be tough. For Monstrous Edges I generate Improved First Strike and Sweep. Finally the Dark Gift is a Free Edge and I roll Attractive…ummm…okay. So, here is what we have so far:

Attributes: Agility d6; Smarts d6; Spirit d6; Strength d6; Vigor d8

Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d6, Investigation d6, Knowledge (Paranormal)

d6, Notice d6, Shooting d6

Charisma: +2; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 8

Monstrous Abilities: Hardy, Armor +2

Monstrous Edges: First Strike, Sweep

Dark Gifts: Attractive

Bite Str +d8

Weakness: Cold

Okay after some thought it seems to me that this is one of those Reptilian Shape shifters, you know the ones on YouTube that say these aliens live amongst us and occasionally eat us as they take over the world one organization at a time. To make this work, I add Masked.

Now to make this work, I decided to make our Reptilian Shape shifter a popular news reporter from one of the Roman news reporting stations. I’ll make it male/female depending on the make up of the team as if I work this right it could become a love interest for one of them (yes, I’m crafty that way). Okay so here is what I’m developing. The team is out on the town getting to know each other and have a good time when two assassins of The Midnight Society attempt to kill the reporter. They are on a holy mission to destroy all aliens and have identified this reporter as one of the shape shifters. Can the heroes save the reporter? If they do, try to work in a love interest for one of the characters and keep it going for a few sessions. What can the reporter discover about Oblivion or the cases the team takes on. If played properly it is even possible the team could pull the reporter into their schemes during some investigation. He/she will attempt to gain their trust and use it to his/her own advantage. Of course the team could learn the reporter’s true identity and now the shifter has to take on a new persona and try to escape, coming back at some later point to extract revenge. It could even work for the Bilderburg Group which the EDO could use against the agents. See how devious this could be?

Next week we take on a new mission.

Till then, don’t get smitten and bitten by a pretty vampire, you may not live to regret it!

It’s Friday!

Sean Preston — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:58:13 +0000

Another busy week has come and gone. I checked my clock and am getting this in just under the wire. Woosh. Where’s the week gone right? Right?

I spent today making some file corrections, proofing, and reading through some new materials (which I am processing to use in some upcoming work). Alas, I cannot talk about the secret stuff yet. It’s just one of those things, but I’m happy to report there is a lot more stuff coming in the pipeline. Next week, I’ll be tearing through some more Ravaged Earth, taking a run at Shaintar preliminary layout ¹, and working on layout for some all new Iron Dynasty materials for both our Savage Worlds and Fantasy Craft friends. ²

I’m gonna bounce now. Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Delays to kicking it back for one more editorial pass. ↩
One man can only do so much. Right? Fear not. Good stuff on the horizon. Thanks for your patience. ↩

Game Geeks Reviews Agents of Oblivion

Sean Preston — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:33:32 +0000

This was released on my birthday, last Friday ¹, and what a great birthday present. Am I right?

Go check out what Kurt Wiegel has to say about it! If you’re already a fan of the game, I’d invite you to post your comments over there and let folks know what they’re missing!

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

That’s January 27th for you keeping track at home. ↩

Examine Your Paneling

Sean Preston — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:55:13 +0000

While I’ve attended to some layout issues, I’ve made it a point to carve out some time today to read some gaming material. My mind has been turning around some ideas for the past handful of days which I’m pretty excited about, but not at the point to talk about in case it’s just my restless nature betraying me. I need to finish gathering some information, process a bit, and then compartmentalize. The restless nature of working on one thing and wanting to do something else. What I call “The Grass is Green Syndrome”.

I saw a video some time back which showed a comic strip tantamount to the same thing. Panel one: you’re at work. Panel two: you’re hanging out with significant other. Panel three: you’re doing your favorite leisure activity. Sounds boring? Right. Well, in each of these panels, you’re thinking about the subsequent panel (or in the case of panel three, you’re thinking about panel one.)

The thing is, you’ve got to live in your panel. It’s no good to be hanging with friends and thinking about some video game you’d rather be playing or any other such nonsense. Same goes for your work. If you’ve got work to do, do it. This all comes down to focus.

Now, it’s okay to examine your panel and realize you need to step outside of it for a few. For example, if I’m doing layout and need to jot down some ideas for an adventure or something, it would be ridiculous not to take a few moments to step into the next panel and do that thing and return where I was. If you don’t, you’ll waste more time and creative energy dwelling upon this other thing.

Naturally, you have to learn when something is for real and not merely an opportunity for activity avoidance. There are some parts of the process of publishing far less engaging than others. This is true of all things. In those parts, you can strive to improve and refine. This can tax your patience, certainly, but attention to detail is paramount. While we can oft define good works by their imperfections, we must do what we can to present our visions with our unique voice and style. Imitation may be the highest form of flattery and, while that’s all well and good up to a point, there comes a defining moment where we each (consciously or unconsciously) break away from the pack in some form or fashion and find our own, best path.

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Reflective Surfaces: Musings on Social Media

Sean Preston — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:46:22 +0000

Bouncing ideas off of others is something I’ve talked about in the past and that’s a good thing to due, but this is not that article. Today, we’re going to talk about the value add of social media and how it can be advantageous to our work lives.

I’ll admit I was a naysayer early on. I didn’t think Twitter and the like were bad things, but I’ve seen a number of tech fads come and go over the years. Heck, I’ve spent my fair amount of time (and then some) on MUDs back in the day and remember when ICQ was the rage. I even had a stint as a forum moderator for Bioware, been crowned best GM in a Cybercon, and taught poetry classes online before most folk had home computers (or had 24/7 wired connections). [1. Admittedly, home computers were on the rise, but I doubt it was really more than half the folks had them. I worked in the tech field and just about all of us did (as you’d expect).

We’ve all seen articles talking about the dangers of social media. This is true for any newer technology, but the bottom line is too much of anything can be a bad thing. Take water or oxygen for example. Too much water will drown you. Too much oxygen isn’t much fun either. Heck, that’s why the phrase too much exists.

At any rate, social media, such as Twitter and Facebook and blogs and websites and forums enable all of us to reach out and touch each other in one of the purest forms imaginable, through the power of the written word (in most cases) wielded by the intellect. Absolutely wonderful. Sure, dark sides exist, but I cannot tell you how much more connected I feel since getting involved in the world beyond my desktop. Writing and creating is largely a solitary life. The life of a designer and developer is especially weird because it is intense periods of aloneness punctuated by sensory overload as we get out there and mingle with the outside world. Communicating online has enabled me to better have a pulse of what is going on and I feel less starved for news when I reach a con. Perhaps by reaching out more, I have grown more calm and better able to focus on what I’m working on. I’m better able to navigate the company’s path as well and explore various and sundry opportunities and establish more and more personal and professional connections.

I joke with my friends touting the benefits of Twitter and other channels, proclaiming it is much like news demons of old, except far better and I don’t have to deal with setting any sort of parameters. In a way, we’re more connected than ever before. Like TV, however, you can choose to watch Snooki instead of Stephen Hawking. That’s up to you.

Feel free to share how social media has made your world a better place here or follow me at @realityblurs on Twitter. I’m usually around and would love to hear from ya!

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!