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Nov. 16th, 2009

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2 Ideas Enter, One Idea leaves.

So I am plotting a Modern Urban Horror/Adventure series, and I have two ideas. The basic idea for the setting is that it is a modern interpretation of the Weird West, with some derivative content from the deadlands setting evolved and mixed with shows like Supernatural.

52 Card Pick up
Back in the old west, with the apocalypse trying to bust down the doors, a group of "Intrepid" adventures did their part to put it off for a few years. The group imprisoned 52 individual terrors of the west and through a pretty fancy use of thaumaturgic principles, it made the world a better place.

That was Then. This is Now.

it's 2010 and the cards are scattered. Some of the Creatures still lay locked up, others are being used for nefarious purposes, and worse some have been outright released. A few cards have fallen into the hands some unlikely heroes who re tasked with doing their part to stave off another end game.


Hell of a Diner
We've all seen them, those 50s diners all chrome and plastic with same menu and decorations. You'll find the same on rt 60 in the middle of nowhere as you will on a street corner in New York City. Can you see one of these diners, with Flo serving you some bacon and eggs and calling you Hon?

Now imagine that there a reason for this deja-vu inducing coincidence is nothing of the sort. Across the country, these diners sit upon some volatile and powerful spots of supernatural mojo. Their construction is perfect feng shui, designed to function like a valve to release supernatural energy safely.

However, these diners are suffering from the pains of progress. The Feng Shui that held them strong and made thenm successful has to often been upset by "updates" and "modifications". Now the energy is spitting out strange swirls, with unpredictable results.

Thoughts?

Oct. 16th, 2009

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Harry Potter RPG?

Harry Potter RPG Ideas )

Sep. 30th, 2009

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so It goes

Been a while since I posted here. I should give the obligitory info dump, and then on to the nifty stuff.

~ I am fine, life goes on.
~ My two year with Sarah is this sunday.... Time flies Eh?
~ I have No idea what I am getting her. This will be resolved shortly I hope :)
~ My Niece used the toilet. Being that she is not quite 2 this is a big deal.
~ I am still part time at SMC. This seems to be par for the course.

Now on to the ideas.

GIJoe Reloaded - I have been bandying about a idea for a FATE powered GIJoe game. I wa sinspired enough to do a Character sheet that is... well frankly dorky but awesome. the Principle is that in the late 80s COBRA was defeated "once and for all" and GIJoe was disbanded. Flash forward, and the COBRA menace is back, but the heros of the past are past their prime. its time for a new generation to step up to the plate.

Any Landing you can walk away from - This is a survival game inspired in some degree by movies like Pitch Black and shows like Lost. The premise is a future equivalent of a 747 crashes on a remote, barely charted planet and surviors must band together to reach an rely station that may or may not exist. Meanwhile they discover the world might not be as uninhabited as the charts led them to believe.

Destroyer Star Agamemnon - This is something that ha sbeen bouncing around in my head for a while and I think I touched on it here a few times. The idea of running a BSG game appeals greatly to me, but frankly I have little desire to rehash the series, or try to "fit into" the narative. Instead I plan to build smaller scale fleet, similarly centered around a smaller number of capital ships. additionally, there will be No Battlestar. Instead, some smaller dreadnaught/destoyer class ship may be present, but that might not even be the focus.

One of the ideas is to turn th edynamic on its head and make the military the minority. A powerful force, but small enough that they self contain rather then run the fleet. this plays into another idea I had which is to make a part of the force pirates. Say the battle starts, and by some unfortunate coincidence a large party of Pirates happen to jump in? Theyir systems would not be effected by the virus and are likely to be targeted by the Toasters...

Another One of my ideas is to replicate the fleet leader dynamic by started each adventure/session with a meeting. Each player essentially plays a mover and shaker and their interactions steers the course of the campaign. then the actual adventure is driven by the task force, which are the players "Main Characters".

Some Ship ideas
The Scarlet Matron - a Hotel/casino ship which used to make a circuit of the colonies. It is a massive ship that is not built for speed, but is full of wealthy persons who might not adjust to well to the ideas of life after the war.
The Venture - A deep space exploration ship that was on its way back to the Colonies. This ship was top of the line, and gives them access to small scale mining, but a disgruntal crew. also it has a system that could be put to military aplication - it uses a probe that jumps in, does a system scan, and then jumps back with Data.
The Farshot - a Prototype Warship that was being shown off to Military Brass at the time of the attack. It has it's own proprietary non military computer system, and is armored all to hell, but is armed with Light guns and test nukes (IE is unarmed). It also has a Well trained crew of civilians, bunch of second string politicans and miltary brass potentially, as well as the Ships design crew (and maybe the eccentric Designer).
The Agamemnon - I belive there should be a range of ships, Destroyer stars, Cruiser stars and the like (if we are using the navy example) and the Ag is one such vessel. Armed to the teeth, but with no fighter support, it is a ship of the line. It survived the fight due to a fluke of some sort, such as parking the ship inside the hull of a destroyed battlestar while they purged the virus.
The Bucket - An old cargo ship that has been converted to a fighter bay after the destruction of whatever carrier ad them. Probably the battlestar.

Anyway, the Idea of the game would be to give them choices and focus on where they want to take the fleet. Adventures like a raid on a Colonial Guard (the BSG Equivalent of the National Guard) depot, finding a Battlestar floating in space, finding one of the ships that vanished from the BSG series and fnding ot about the fleet... and deciding if they want to do it.

Also, as tot he Psylons, I would be changing their appearance (to avoid unintential reactions) and focusing a little less on the metaphysical angle.
 

Aug. 12th, 2009

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Damn Funny GIJoe Video

Star power lies here in:
GIJOE after hours )

Jul. 21st, 2009

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Thoughts in interviews

I have been reading a lot of Godin, and i came to a comple of interesting realiziations. First and formost, I enjoy him greatly. However, Asi listened to Free Prize and Purple Cow, i found Seth preaching what I already know. Not all by ANY stretch, but most. I at first thought this was kinda weird. As I listened to Purple Cow, I couldn't shake this feeling that I was missing something, or just not seeing what he was saying and then it hit me light lighting. This book is not for me. This book is to be placed in the hands of a boss to have them listen to a known expert in the field back me up and realize I am not pulling marketing ideas out of my ass. Brilliant!
 
It is with seth in mind however, I prepped for the interview. My process is pretty simple. I make copies of the resume i sent and stick then in my folio, I find out who is interviewing me, I read everything I can about the job and people. I try to guess the questions that will be asked so I have a frame of reference, but often settled for prepping 3 questions and/or suggestions for improvement, including one REAL oddball question I KNOW will not be asked. Then suit up and show up at least 10 minute early and leisurely read whatever paraphernalia might be on the tables. Most of all I relax so I can be myself, confident that the background research I have done.
 
This ritual of sorts led me to a conversation with a friend about interviews. They have a laid back view about interviews, the preparation for it, and the follow through. It boggled my mind. For me, an interview is a sales events. You the salesperson pitch yourself as a product to potential consumers, aka your employers to be. It's often a pithed battle with tough completion gunning for the same. Unless you research the target audience (your interviewers), prep follow up questions of your own, know your product (self) and what parts to emphasis, you are in trouble. More to the point though, I feel like its not a matter of bringing you "A Game" its a matter of being memorable. Saying something that sticks in their brains so when the dust settles its you that resonates in their minds.
 
Here is an example: I interviewed this morning in a college admissions dept, and was asked how would I go about expanding. My answer was to think Inside the Box. I got more then a few strange looks, but as I went on to explain that the box is the range of existing influences. Outside the box are individuals with no ties to the college, even tangential ones. If we target persons outside "the Box", its a crap shoot and a waste of resources. If instead we focus inwardly, strengthening ties to the college, tapping alumni, families, or even persons who have visited SMC for other functions, we already have an in. Lets reconnect with a '81 grad who might have a nephew who's 17. 
 
The rest is window dressing, but the statement of "I think we should think 'Inside the Box'" hopefully will stick in their heads.
 
 
Interesting side note:
I discarded an idea that occurred to me. I thought "I should bring a batch of fresh back cookies to the interview" and after chuckling thought why don't I? Isn't that a wow factor? Is it unprofessional, or unconventional? I would think it depends on the job you are going for, but does it really? In this world of video resumes, isn't there something to be said for the unconventional and memorable arrival of cookies? I think I might ask Mr Godin.

May. 10th, 2009

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Self Poke

I have been Neglectful of the LiveJournal. My Bad. I have gotten hooked on the twitter, which is probably not a good thing, but thats life.

I have begun work on the 11-20 Levels of the swashbuckler, which is cool. It will include a few Paragon Paths, which excites me. The issue I have is don't know what to do with it when its done. Can one submit it as an article for a Dragon Magazine? I would think that would be amazing, but have not turned my brain in that direction yet. I figure I should finish it, make it balanced and not suck, and then worry about it.

Sarah and I are off to DC next week, which is awesome. I am saddened that she has no desire to see the White House or the Capitol, but the look in her eyes when I described the Air and Space Museum reminded me why I love her so much. Ok I didn't really forget, but it was still an awesome look.

I will be back at SMC this fall, part time... Which sucks and is good for a variety of reasons. Something good will come of this, I strongly believe that. Now I just need to find a good summer job...

And Now I am gonna go do something else like play some fall out or write Swashbuckler stuff.

Ciao!

Apr. 20th, 2009

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New Blog!

So I Decided to not rand and ramble about 4e D&D here.

Instead I am putting it here!

http://4eforme.wordpress.com/


Mar. 23rd, 2009

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Time to write again

As I was sitting around reading yet another par for course Fantasy book that fill the book shelves of our house like tribbles, I realized that I really and truly miss writing. It inspired me to pull down some old note books and found my Idea book, which was a walk through memory lane. This led me to pull out a story I 'finished",  play I wrote, and some other stuff and read it. To my surpirse it was good! I saw a few spots that needed to be fleshed out a little more, but they had good bones. Now I'm not saying I am goina try to bring back my 500 Words a day pledge, but I am seriosuly missing writing, and there is really only one fix for that.

John

Mar. 12th, 2009

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7 Sided Dice

These are awesome. Old news but awesome


 

Cut For Gaming Rambling. )

Feb. 2nd, 2009

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Old Photos.

So I started a little project recently, wherein I am scanning in a bunch of old photos (See the test batch here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnoghue/sets/72157613252157818/ ). Its my goal to preserve a bunch of these photos becuase frankly a lot of them are sitting in boxes.

The box I started with was My grandfather's pictures. The Box is full of treasures, old pictures of him in Highschool (And his report card), some shots of the family camp, and more.

I have scanned only a fraction of the stack... I got distracted by the superbowl, but there will be more to come.

I am loving it.

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