In my ever expanding quest to become a game designer, I have become an editor on the staff of the unofficial Savage Worlds Fanzine Sharkbytes. I am the 50 Fathoms editor. 50 Fathoms is Savage Worlds' piratical setting and I have had fun as the editor.
Long story short, my first edited article is in the newest issue (Volume 2, Issue 1).
If you have any interest...my first published article was in the February '05 Nibbles issue. It was an article on how to incorporate introduction, cutscenes, and flashbacks into game sessions.
After its long hiatus, it is good to see Sharkbytes back in print and I have already gone hard to work editing the next 50 Fathoms article. I am even writing a few, though not 50 Fathoms, of my own.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Baseball stories not currently being covered
With the Barry Bonds saga dragging on the national media seems to be mostly ignoring some of the better baseball stories going on throughout the league. This is not to say they are not being covered but not being given their due. The following list is in no particular order:
Albert Pujols: Now he is being covered but not to the degree that McGuire or Bonds were when they were on their record setting pace. Currently, he has 25 homeruns and 64 rbis at the end of May, if Albert keeps it up he will hit 79 home runs and have 202 rbi's by the end of the season. A mind boogling season - perhaps the best of all time.
Brandon Webb: Quietly leads the league with 8 wins. He has been dominant throughout the season and should start for the National League in the all star game. His ground ball to flyball ratio has been disgusting. His 2.18 ERA and 1.08 whip are nothing to sneeze at.
The Detroit Tigers: They have been in a word awesome. Jim Leyland has turned around a franchise in desperate need of a new direction. The pitching is good and their lineup produces runs. They are a nice change to the teams normally associated with the elite of the sport.
Nomar Garciaparra: After a couple of years of injury he has made a smooth transition to first base and is hitting lights out in Los Angeles. Nomar hasn't been playing as long as everyone else but he is hitting over .360 and has favorable rbi's with the league even with his time off for injury.
Johnathan Papelbon: The Boston rookie has moved into the closer's role and has given up one earned run all year. His microscopic whip and era (0.35 era and 0.58 whip) have helped Boston stay at or near the top of the AL East
Ryan Howard: This second year first baseman from Philadelphia is tearing up the National League with 18 homeruns and 47 RBI's through May. He simply crushes the ball - get used to the name it will be around awhile.
Hanley Ramierez: Rookie starting shortstop for the Florida Marlins is hitting .315 with 43 runs and 16 stolen bases in his debut season. He runs and scores, just what you want out of a lead off hitter. Additionally, he is a legitimate threat on the bases, rivaling Carl Crawford, Jose Reyes and Scott Posednick for steals. A true consideration for rookie of the year.
the National League West: After a season where only one team was above .500 for the year, after two months every team is .500 or better. Thats what I call a turn around.
Whatever your take on Bonds, he looks old these days and in my humble opinion now that he has taken the next hurdle lets see more of some other stories.
Albert Pujols: Now he is being covered but not to the degree that McGuire or Bonds were when they were on their record setting pace. Currently, he has 25 homeruns and 64 rbis at the end of May, if Albert keeps it up he will hit 79 home runs and have 202 rbi's by the end of the season. A mind boogling season - perhaps the best of all time.
Brandon Webb: Quietly leads the league with 8 wins. He has been dominant throughout the season and should start for the National League in the all star game. His ground ball to flyball ratio has been disgusting. His 2.18 ERA and 1.08 whip are nothing to sneeze at.
The Detroit Tigers: They have been in a word awesome. Jim Leyland has turned around a franchise in desperate need of a new direction. The pitching is good and their lineup produces runs. They are a nice change to the teams normally associated with the elite of the sport.
Nomar Garciaparra: After a couple of years of injury he has made a smooth transition to first base and is hitting lights out in Los Angeles. Nomar hasn't been playing as long as everyone else but he is hitting over .360 and has favorable rbi's with the league even with his time off for injury.
Johnathan Papelbon: The Boston rookie has moved into the closer's role and has given up one earned run all year. His microscopic whip and era (0.35 era and 0.58 whip) have helped Boston stay at or near the top of the AL East
Ryan Howard: This second year first baseman from Philadelphia is tearing up the National League with 18 homeruns and 47 RBI's through May. He simply crushes the ball - get used to the name it will be around awhile.
Hanley Ramierez: Rookie starting shortstop for the Florida Marlins is hitting .315 with 43 runs and 16 stolen bases in his debut season. He runs and scores, just what you want out of a lead off hitter. Additionally, he is a legitimate threat on the bases, rivaling Carl Crawford, Jose Reyes and Scott Posednick for steals. A true consideration for rookie of the year.
the National League West: After a season where only one team was above .500 for the year, after two months every team is .500 or better. Thats what I call a turn around.
Whatever your take on Bonds, he looks old these days and in my humble opinion now that he has taken the next hurdle lets see more of some other stories.
Joe Bob Briggs Imitates Cinerati
Look at the theme he chose for his blog!
In all honesty, Joe Bob's Week in Review has been long in need of the kind of interactivity that blogs allow. Go on over and give him a holler.
In all honesty, Joe Bob's Week in Review has been long in need of the kind of interactivity that blogs allow. Go on over and give him a holler.
Community Rundown
Here are the stories being covered by the Pop, Pop, Pop Culture Community this week so far.
We, of course, have discussed X3 and Xombies and will soon discuss the Wild Cards series in greater detail.
- Perrero has their usual blogburst, expect the unexpected.
- Shouting Into the Wind discusses why Taylor Hicks Matters.
- DISContent discusses Memorial Day and Hershel Gordon Lewis
- Monitor Duty discusses Strangers in Paradise
- News on the March discusses Google, the Simpsons, and Jules Verne.
- Gone Hollywood disses Michele Rodriguez for being released from prison and praises Naomi Watts for her philanthropy.
- Our friends at the Ziggurat of Doom discuss propaganda, X3, and how vampires are protesting hamburgers at White Castle
- The Shelf apologizes for the lack of a Memorial Day post on Memorial Day and has a few comments about his opinions regarding An Inconvenient Truth
- The Hungry Ghost reminds us to read the Axis of Time series and presents an opportunity for all you burgeoning 35mm Hong Kong Print collectors out there.
We, of course, have discussed X3 and Xombies and will soon discuss the Wild Cards series in greater detail.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Added Community Members
Per Request I added Gone Hollywood to our community. I also added Monitor Duty, though they didn't ask.
We still need a "logo" for our community. Any volunteers?
If not, I'll have one up by the end of next week.
We still need a "logo" for our community. Any volunteers?
If not, I'll have one up by the end of next week.
Weekend Update and Recent Purchases
I, like 12 million other Americans (based on $10 a ticket), went to see X-Men III this weekend. Geek that I am, I had already read the novelization
by Chris Claremont (Chris Claremont!) so I knew what to expect which was both good and bad. My opinion of the film is largely the same as Bill Cunningham's over at DISContent so in the effort to avoid redundancy I will only describe where my opinion expands on his own.
Matt Forbeck has a recommendation post on "Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids by David Kushner. It’s the story of how Jon Finkel, a Magic: The Gathering player, went from high-school nerd to world champion, joined a casino blackjack card-counting team." Sounds like the next book to be added to my reading queue. I used to work at a casino, I play a lot of games as you know, and I am a fan of poker books.
As you may have noticed, I have updated the sidebar to include The Flash television series, a Cure anthology CD set, a novel by James Barclay, and a wargame based on Lord of the Rings. Quick rundown...
I loved The Flash television series when it came out and the life and death of Barry Allen frame my favorite era of comic books. When Barry Allen died in 1985 it, among other things, heralded the era of "important" comics and the slow death of comics that are fun. To often comics have lost their sense of providing pleasure and have replaced it with a desire to create "art." This has led to many very good series, but it has also relegated the medium to obscurity. The television show was a reminder of those old, good times. I hope when I get around to watching the episodes that they will hold up.
The Cure anthology is a collection of the band's B-Sides and it constitutes 4 of the six slots in my cd changer in my car.
James Barclay is one of the few authors who could base a series of novels on a roleplaying campaign and have it be entertaining. His Raven series is based on his old Dragonquest campaign. It is fun and imaginative fluff and I have "borrowed" liberally from it in my home campaigns.
War of the Ring is a very good wargame based on the Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien. You can play the game with simplified or advanced rules (I recommend advanced). The most innovative feature of the game is the need for both players to keep track of how well the Fellowship is doing, in addition to strategic decisions.
by Chris Claremont (Chris Claremont!) so I knew what to expect which was both good and bad. My opinion of the film is largely the same as Bill Cunningham's over at DISContent so in the effort to avoid redundancy I will only describe where my opinion expands on his own.As Bill states quite convincingly, the movie lacked texture. Where I most agree with this assessment is in the "cure" storyline. While Storm assures the audience, and her fellow mutants, that "there is nothing wrong with us," she is only correct with regard to a certain group of mutants. There is nothing wrong with mutants who have a beneficial mutation, like the X-men and the Brotherhood of Evil mutants. Her statement is important from a Civil Rights perspective, which has been the undercurrent of the X-men since day one, but from an evolutionary/medical one it is folly.
The movie attempted to show some of the potentially detrimental effects in it's highly underused Rogue narrative, but failed to represent the stakes properly. While there is tragedy in Rogue's inability to touch anyone without possibly killing them, she does also benefit by the temporary assimilation of their superpowers (if they have any) as well. Her mutation is a mixed bag, both benficial and detrimental. This lowers the emotional impact of any conflict she may be experiencing regarding wanting to "kiss her boyfriend." The impact is even less for fans of the comic series, in which Rogue has already "assumed" the power set of Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) in addition to her own and has fragments of Danvers' personality as well. The audience needed to see mutants with truly detrimental mutations, things that would make them evolutionary dead ends. While fear of power in wrong hands is one motivation for anti-mutant racism, mere difference is another and the most dramatically compelling. Thus the movie should have also included neutral, but cosmetically unappealling, mutations as well.
To be fair, the comics are rarely better than the movie was with this issue. In fact, the best example of this kind of social commentary is in the Wild Cards series edited by George R.R. Martin. In that series, there are three sets of mutations caused by an alien virus. The first creates what are known as Aces, your typical superheroes. The second creates Jokers, people with physically negative or even detrimental mutations. Lastly come the Black Queens, those who are killed by the mutation they acquire.
If not all mutations are beneficial, you have room for drama. If that is the case there is a legitimate reason for the creation of a "cure" but tension is created when that cure is then used as a weapon by intolerant leadership.
I also thought the movie dropped the ball on the tension hinted at at the end of X-men 2 where the Professor had essentially almost killed all non-mutants. That and a couple of editing/dialogue problems and the possible need for more creative use of special effects funds.
Other than that, good stuff. Fast, Furious, and Fun.
Matt Forbeck has a recommendation post on "Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids by David Kushner. It’s the story of how Jon Finkel, a Magic: The Gathering player, went from high-school nerd to world champion, joined a casino blackjack card-counting team." Sounds like the next book to be added to my reading queue. I used to work at a casino, I play a lot of games as you know, and I am a fan of poker books.
As you may have noticed, I have updated the sidebar to include The Flash television series, a Cure anthology CD set, a novel by James Barclay, and a wargame based on Lord of the Rings. Quick rundown...
I loved The Flash television series when it came out and the life and death of Barry Allen frame my favorite era of comic books. When Barry Allen died in 1985 it, among other things, heralded the era of "important" comics and the slow death of comics that are fun. To often comics have lost their sense of providing pleasure and have replaced it with a desire to create "art." This has led to many very good series, but it has also relegated the medium to obscurity. The television show was a reminder of those old, good times. I hope when I get around to watching the episodes that they will hold up.
The Cure anthology is a collection of the band's B-Sides and it constitutes 4 of the six slots in my cd changer in my car.
James Barclay is one of the few authors who could base a series of novels on a roleplaying campaign and have it be entertaining. His Raven series is based on his old Dragonquest campaign. It is fun and imaginative fluff and I have "borrowed" liberally from it in my home campaigns.
War of the Ring is a very good wargame based on the Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien. You can play the game with simplified or advanced rules (I recommend advanced). The most innovative feature of the game is the need for both players to keep track of how well the Fellowship is doing, in addition to strategic decisions.
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