Discipline Blog Redux #2
Pokewalker Steps Taken: 11455 (Woo-Hoo! Most in one day since I've started using the thing!)
Running Dungeons and Dragons
Today I’m running a session of Dungeons and Dragons (3.5, homebrew world), so in honor of that occasion, I’ve decided to write a quick piece about the world that the game is taking place in. I may also diverge from the key topic to share some particularly noteworthy gaming moments if I feel so moved.
The World of Bhakaras –
Like many fantasy worlds, Bhakaras is full of medieval weaponry, magical spells, and odd looking races of humanoids and monsters. Unlike many other fantasy worlds, except perhaps some of the worlds found in Final Fantasy style computer games, Bhakaras also has technology (of various kinds and at various levels) available to it. Even that doesn’t make it stand out completely however. Time travel, high technology, steampunk technology and medieval societies all have a place in this world and basically anything is possible.
Current Age of Bhakaras – The Age of Galiria (5735 a.r.c. – Annotated Renaissance Calendar)
Central to the campaign I’m currently running is the nation-state of Galiria. Originally founded as a small feudal city-state in the year 1077 a.r.c. Galiria grew in the aftermath of the fall of Prosempst (Pronounced Pross-M-Pissed). Several small outlying noble settlements and villages all united under the banner of Lord Valys Galerian III and a standing militia was founded in the wake of the influx of Prosemptan refugees. Within a decade, Galiria had officially established its borders (the forest line of Hylar to the north, the Viridian rift to the west, the Kalinost seas to the east and the Blightline to the south).
Galiria’s population consists of Humans (approx 70%), Elves (10% - mostly High Elves), Dwarves (5% - Mostly Hill Dwarves), T’lorians (5% mostly found in the capitol), and about 10% of Monster Races (Goblinoids, Draconic/Kobold, etc. – mostly found in small settlements away from villages, towns and cities).
Although the technology and wealth found in Galiria does vary greatly between the various sized settlements throughout, overall Galiria has a semi-industrial level of technology with a Steampunk Neo-Victorian feel to the architecture, clothing and technological devices. Although natural talent for Magical and Psychic ability is rare among the populace of Galiria, both areas of study are well-known and integrated into the daily lives of many of Galiria’s citizens. Many of the Steampunk devices are fueled using Magical or Psionic power sources, and the Galirian Academy of Scientific Study has departments devoted to the use and construction of Magical and Psionic devices.
The Galirian Academy of Scientific Study also serves as the central hub for all interactions with the T’lorian population in Galiria. The T’lorians (an advanced race from the Kovertan peninsula) came to Galiria shortly after the fall of Prosempst and offered to share some of their knowledge and experience by forming the Academy. In its current incarnation, the Academy has several satellite locations throughout the region and is the central hub for all academic study on the mainland. In addition, it serves as the training ground for nobility, scientists, engineers, sorcerers, psions, and more.
Over more than 4000 years, the Galirian political structures have changed drastically. Originally a feudal city-state ruled by a noble family. When the nation grew, it became a full-fledged monarchy. After nearly 500 years of rule by the Galerian royal house, a military coup occurred and the Royal family was forced into hiding. Until the early 2000’s, Galiria was a police state and all of the citizens of Galiria were forced to serve in the Militia. Finally, the Galirian royal family put together a legitimate resistance movement and for more than one-hundred years the nation fractured into smaller city-states, it was believed that the age of Galiria had passed during this time. However, the Galirian civil-war finally came to an end when the Viridian rift erupted in 2136 spewing out an army of golem-like warriors who began to lay waste to all in their path.
The Darkestarr Family Line –
Dekall Darkestarr, a T’lorian renegade, began traveling throughout Galiria shortly after the eruption. Little is known about the man except that in the years following the eruption he would often arrive in towns being attacked and save them from destruction before disappearing. For more than a decade “The Darkestarr” was considered a legend and little more, a sort of guardian angel. However, in 2145 the elusive and enigmatic T’lorian wed the Galirian princess Serra Galerian. The ceremony was very public (held in the destroyed central square of Old Galiria) and served as a uniting event for the nation. Within less than a year, the Galirian royal family had regained much of its lost power and the Galirian militia was rebuilt. Over the next fifteen years, the T’lorian and the Princess worked to reunite Galiria and re-establish its borders while working to eject the still massing golem armies. In addition, the first known children of a T’lorian/Human pairing began to be born as the Darkestarrs started having children. Despite being the co-ruler of Galiria very little is known about Dekall Darkestarr. However, his family line continues to this day. During Dekall and Serra’s reign Galiria had returned to a sort of Monarchy, however, both agreed that if Galiria was to survive a new system of government had to be formed. As a result, Gailria eventually adopted a system of government that was essentially a representational monarchy and a republic fused into one.
Well, that’s all I have in me for now… there will probably be more World of Bhakaras themed posts done every Thursday (my gaming day) if not more frequently… I’m currently working on the writing out of the actual system of government in Galiria which I may post as well. Anyway, thanks for listening to my ramblings. See you tomorrow!
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Discipline Blog Redux
Discipline Blog Redux
Ok, so the universe didn’t exactly work in my favor for the past few months and, as it unfortunately does way too often, my personal growth and development took a back seat to general damage control living. Anyway, I thought I’d take this moment to attempt to restart the “Discipline Blog” and really make some progress in increasing my productivity.
Some notes about the redux: Instead of putting down the amount of time that I’ve been walking each day, I’m instead going to use my newly acquired Pokewalker to record the number of steps taken. Other than that the format won’t be changing much.
Pokewalking today: 873 steps (grand total of approximately 8000 over the previous weekend at PortCon Maine)
Speaking of PortCon, I decided to write a little about some of the things I enjoy geeking out about.
Doctor Who Fans (Whovians) -
Normally, Doctor Who fans are not found frequently at PortCon (Anime and UK Sci-Fi doesn’t seem to have a lot of overlap). As a matter of fact, in the past 6 years of attendance the only other Whovian I’d actually encountered was a man who was talking about the good Doctor while standing in line who proceeded to be incredibly pleased when I pulled my Sonic Screwdriver out of my pocket and proceeded to point it at him and activate it (causing a small blue light to flash at him while a high pitched whirring noise emitted from the device). However, this year I was pleased to not only see some Whovians out in public - First person I saw was a young man in a “Gallifrey University” t-shirt - but actual Whovian cos-players. I got to see 2 David Tennant Doctors, 1 Tom Baker Doctor, 1 Donna Noble, and someone in a gas mask asking con-goers “Are you my mummy?” I was pleased to say the least and was also saddened that this year I wasn’t carrying my Sonic at all times. By the way, no spoilers but I just need to say that Stephen Moffat has officially and very successfully taken over the reins of Doctor Who and the season/series finale for this year was both excellent and infuriating (because I have to wait until next spring for more episodes - not counting the Christmas special).
Star Wars Miniatures
While most of the sessions of the WotC Star Wars Miniature Battle game that I ran this weekend were pretty basic simple scenarios designed to teach people to play the game, I managed to squeeze in two amazing games. The first lasted more than four hours and consisted of myself, another Mini’s staffer, and two young players (a brother and sister) who have been playing minis at the con regularly for years. It got very silly and the dice rolls were oddly crazy (rolls for initiative that went 18, 18, 19, 20 or 1, 5, *a comment that there’s no way a 5 was going to win* followed by a 3, and another 1) and several series of critical hits and misses. It was a blast and we had quite a bit of fun. The second game, and last of the con was a game between myself and the other Mini’s staffer who was part of the first game. Mandalorian commandos versus Rebel Commandos and a lone Ewok sounds epic right? Well, the game lasted for almost two hours and it came down in the end to each of us having only one character left, (He had Canderous Ordo and I had Han Solo, Scoundrel) after nearly ten full rounds of Canderous rapid firing down the hall and regenerating from numerous shots by Han, and Han dodging and weaving while getting in pot shots on Canderous, both characters were at the point where one hit by either character would end the game. Unfortunately for me, the force was not with Han in the end and he was struck a fatal blow. Despite my loss, I had a blast and ended the con on a high note.
Heroclix
I hadn’t played Heroclix in more than a year, but when the opportunity arose for me to compete in a tournament using two sentinels as my army I couldn’t resist. My first battle was perhaps the best. My sentinels faced off against a lone Superman Prime and while the empowered god-like figure was capable of crushing my giant robots in a straight up fight the fact that he was alone on the board left him with a critical weakness. After exchanging blows for several rounds, the unthinkable occurred! A sentinel captured Prime and ran away with him, ending the skirmish. Although my robots started strong, the Sentinels failed against all of their other opponents and placed low in the tournament. Yet in a magical unspoken deal, every person in the tournament ended up with exactly what they wanted despite having been handed different prizes. Unfortunately, the con has reignited my interest in playing Heroclix (and other Mini’s games) again… like I need more things to spend money on.
Ramblings
Well, I think that about wraps up this mess. I apologize in advance for the mess that this is… writing it at 3am can have a dramatic impact upon the skill presented. See you all tomorrow!
Ok, so the universe didn’t exactly work in my favor for the past few months and, as it unfortunately does way too often, my personal growth and development took a back seat to general damage control living. Anyway, I thought I’d take this moment to attempt to restart the “Discipline Blog” and really make some progress in increasing my productivity.
Some notes about the redux: Instead of putting down the amount of time that I’ve been walking each day, I’m instead going to use my newly acquired Pokewalker to record the number of steps taken. Other than that the format won’t be changing much.
Pokewalking today: 873 steps (grand total of approximately 8000 over the previous weekend at PortCon Maine)
Speaking of PortCon, I decided to write a little about some of the things I enjoy geeking out about.
Doctor Who Fans (Whovians) -
Normally, Doctor Who fans are not found frequently at PortCon (Anime and UK Sci-Fi doesn’t seem to have a lot of overlap). As a matter of fact, in the past 6 years of attendance the only other Whovian I’d actually encountered was a man who was talking about the good Doctor while standing in line who proceeded to be incredibly pleased when I pulled my Sonic Screwdriver out of my pocket and proceeded to point it at him and activate it (causing a small blue light to flash at him while a high pitched whirring noise emitted from the device). However, this year I was pleased to not only see some Whovians out in public - First person I saw was a young man in a “Gallifrey University” t-shirt - but actual Whovian cos-players. I got to see 2 David Tennant Doctors, 1 Tom Baker Doctor, 1 Donna Noble, and someone in a gas mask asking con-goers “Are you my mummy?” I was pleased to say the least and was also saddened that this year I wasn’t carrying my Sonic at all times. By the way, no spoilers but I just need to say that Stephen Moffat has officially and very successfully taken over the reins of Doctor Who and the season/series finale for this year was both excellent and infuriating (because I have to wait until next spring for more episodes - not counting the Christmas special).
Star Wars Miniatures
While most of the sessions of the WotC Star Wars Miniature Battle game that I ran this weekend were pretty basic simple scenarios designed to teach people to play the game, I managed to squeeze in two amazing games. The first lasted more than four hours and consisted of myself, another Mini’s staffer, and two young players (a brother and sister) who have been playing minis at the con regularly for years. It got very silly and the dice rolls were oddly crazy (rolls for initiative that went 18, 18, 19, 20 or 1, 5, *a comment that there’s no way a 5 was going to win* followed by a 3, and another 1) and several series of critical hits and misses. It was a blast and we had quite a bit of fun. The second game, and last of the con was a game between myself and the other Mini’s staffer who was part of the first game. Mandalorian commandos versus Rebel Commandos and a lone Ewok sounds epic right? Well, the game lasted for almost two hours and it came down in the end to each of us having only one character left, (He had Canderous Ordo and I had Han Solo, Scoundrel) after nearly ten full rounds of Canderous rapid firing down the hall and regenerating from numerous shots by Han, and Han dodging and weaving while getting in pot shots on Canderous, both characters were at the point where one hit by either character would end the game. Unfortunately for me, the force was not with Han in the end and he was struck a fatal blow. Despite my loss, I had a blast and ended the con on a high note.
Heroclix
I hadn’t played Heroclix in more than a year, but when the opportunity arose for me to compete in a tournament using two sentinels as my army I couldn’t resist. My first battle was perhaps the best. My sentinels faced off against a lone Superman Prime and while the empowered god-like figure was capable of crushing my giant robots in a straight up fight the fact that he was alone on the board left him with a critical weakness. After exchanging blows for several rounds, the unthinkable occurred! A sentinel captured Prime and ran away with him, ending the skirmish. Although my robots started strong, the Sentinels failed against all of their other opponents and placed low in the tournament. Yet in a magical unspoken deal, every person in the tournament ended up with exactly what they wanted despite having been handed different prizes. Unfortunately, the con has reignited my interest in playing Heroclix (and other Mini’s games) again… like I need more things to spend money on.
Ramblings
Well, I think that about wraps up this mess. I apologize in advance for the mess that this is… writing it at 3am can have a dramatic impact upon the skill presented. See you all tomorrow!
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Start of a New Era
The Start of a New Era
I am an aspiring professional writer, specifically an aspiring professional screenwriter. However, truth be told, I’m a terrible procrastinator and have gotten out of the habit of writing regularly. As a result I’m undertaking a new personal project: A Discipline Blog. Now I know what you are thinking and I promise this will not be a blog about any forays into S&M (Sorry, folks). Now that at least half of you have stopped reading, I can discuss what this is going to be about.
In order to be successful both personally and professionally, I need to produce some results. On the professional side, that means I need to get on my ass and write. On the personal side, it means that I need to get off my ass and move around, explore, and live for a bit. So, this “Discipline Blog” will hopefully help me do that.
My intention is to begin each blog with a statement of what I have done outside the house, preferably to get some exercise, before writing the blog each day. After that, I intend to find something, anything to write about. The topics may range from celebrity gossip, to interesting things about MMORPGs, to something new I learned or encountered at school that particular day, or any number of other topics. In other words, the blog will be about whatever is on my mind that day. Hopefully, you’ll find it interesting.
Discipline Blog – Day 1 – April 12, 2010
Off my ass time: 0 hours, 15 minutes. Today is the first day and as such, I’ve been on my feet only as long as it takes to walk down my stairs, and to/from classrooms.
Topic of conversation: Why am I not going for a walk right now?
It is a gorgeous sunny day and I’m sitting in front of a computer screen typing, listening to David Guetta and Akon’s “Sexy Bitch” and not walking around the campus soaking up some of the sunlight and “fresh” air. So, I have to ask myself, why? There are several obvious answers: 1) I’m at the school and my job is to sit on my butt and wait for students to arrive so I can provide some writing support. 2) My classes are indoors. 3) I’m lazy. 4) I’m practicing for my career as a writer which will, unfortunately, involve at lot of me sitting on my ass staring at a computer screen. All of those reasons are true and complete bullshit.
My body feels like it’s filled with writhing throngs of cells waiting to move their bodies so I can move mine. I want to be outside. I want to enjoy the day. Sedentary life be damned! So, why am I not outside walking? I can offer no explanation.
Before this gets too far into an exercise in self-centered, arrogant, self-flagellation or (even worse) a form of written masturbation, let me try and find a point in all of this spew. This should be an exercise in meta-thinking. Very rarely do we ever really pinpoint our motivations. By starting this “Discipline Blog,” I’m hoping that will I be able to share my thoughts and ramblings while developing some form of disciplined writing habits and maybe (if I’m incredibly lucky) entertain, educate, and inform some people out there in the universe. So I appreciate you putting up with my selfish needs and reading this and may we have a nice ride together.
Oh, and I appreciate comments and criticism. Please share. :-D
I am an aspiring professional writer, specifically an aspiring professional screenwriter. However, truth be told, I’m a terrible procrastinator and have gotten out of the habit of writing regularly. As a result I’m undertaking a new personal project: A Discipline Blog. Now I know what you are thinking and I promise this will not be a blog about any forays into S&M (Sorry, folks). Now that at least half of you have stopped reading, I can discuss what this is going to be about.
In order to be successful both personally and professionally, I need to produce some results. On the professional side, that means I need to get on my ass and write. On the personal side, it means that I need to get off my ass and move around, explore, and live for a bit. So, this “Discipline Blog” will hopefully help me do that.
My intention is to begin each blog with a statement of what I have done outside the house, preferably to get some exercise, before writing the blog each day. After that, I intend to find something, anything to write about. The topics may range from celebrity gossip, to interesting things about MMORPGs, to something new I learned or encountered at school that particular day, or any number of other topics. In other words, the blog will be about whatever is on my mind that day. Hopefully, you’ll find it interesting.
Discipline Blog – Day 1 – April 12, 2010
Off my ass time: 0 hours, 15 minutes. Today is the first day and as such, I’ve been on my feet only as long as it takes to walk down my stairs, and to/from classrooms.
Topic of conversation: Why am I not going for a walk right now?
It is a gorgeous sunny day and I’m sitting in front of a computer screen typing, listening to David Guetta and Akon’s “Sexy Bitch” and not walking around the campus soaking up some of the sunlight and “fresh” air. So, I have to ask myself, why? There are several obvious answers: 1) I’m at the school and my job is to sit on my butt and wait for students to arrive so I can provide some writing support. 2) My classes are indoors. 3) I’m lazy. 4) I’m practicing for my career as a writer which will, unfortunately, involve at lot of me sitting on my ass staring at a computer screen. All of those reasons are true and complete bullshit.
My body feels like it’s filled with writhing throngs of cells waiting to move their bodies so I can move mine. I want to be outside. I want to enjoy the day. Sedentary life be damned! So, why am I not outside walking? I can offer no explanation.
Before this gets too far into an exercise in self-centered, arrogant, self-flagellation or (even worse) a form of written masturbation, let me try and find a point in all of this spew. This should be an exercise in meta-thinking. Very rarely do we ever really pinpoint our motivations. By starting this “Discipline Blog,” I’m hoping that will I be able to share my thoughts and ramblings while developing some form of disciplined writing habits and maybe (if I’m incredibly lucky) entertain, educate, and inform some people out there in the universe. So I appreciate you putting up with my selfish needs and reading this and may we have a nice ride together.
Oh, and I appreciate comments and criticism. Please share. :-D
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