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Spent a lovely day with [personal profile] serehfa and [personal profile] caseopaya, playing various boardgames including Carcassonne and Chez Cthulhu. On the latter topic Thursday night was a roaring session of the Venice chapter of Horror on the Orient Express, involving a vampire stalking Hercule Poirot in the winter fog, local fascists putting the pressure on, and the destruction of a 15th century clock tower. What could possibly go wrong? The next issue of RPG Review is a Cthulhu special, with material already beginning to come in.

On that note, have had problems with a couple of my websites in the past few days; there's been a rather sudden explosion of connections and they seem to be legitimate. The RPG Review website has been down twice due to exceeding bandwidth, mostly downloads of the latest issue of the 'zine, which is no receiving the sort of circulation in a week that it used to receive in a month this time last year. My main IT website is now receiving c7K unique visitors month, and the Isocracy website has tripled the same in the past two months to c5K. Also, absolutely delighted to have Race Mattews speaking at our AGM, after attending a great event with Mondragon Cooperative spokesperson, Mikel Lezamiz with whom I spent some time with. At the dinner afterwards, sat on the same table as the person who handed me my MBA, an opportunity for more fine conversation.

Attended an excellent gathering recently of liberal Unitarian-Universalists at a Breton cafe; also attended St Michael's Uniting Church for a good talk on the anxiety of emptiness. Afterwards, put in an application for membership to said congregation which will be confirmed on November 4th - the same day that I'll be presenting at the Melbourne Unitarian Philosophy Forum on "Utopian Tragedies : Cautionary Tales for Political Philosophy". Keeping a foot in both local camps of the genuinely liberal in each religion provides a good means to avoid the fundamentalists of both breeds. We shall see where the journey takes us next.

Have been re-reading a heavily annotated edition of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and Machiavelli's The Prince. The latter is particularly surprising for its moments of grave moral content. Tomorrow morning heading off to Sydney at stupid o'clock for the 2012 eResearch Conference. Have spent most of this week trying to organise as much as possible from our end with new cluster installation.

Date: 2012-10-27 01:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nerdwerds.livejournal.com
I'm pretty sure Machiavelli was the Stephen Colbert of his era, I believe The Prince was intended to be read as satire of the political regime in Italy at that time.

Date: 2012-10-27 06:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
This is somewhat true; indeed he's pretty explicit about it. On the first page he opens up and says "Listen, if you want to know my views on running a republic, I've already published that."

One part that did resonate however was his call to arms to the Italians: With us there is great justice, because that war is just which is necessary, and arms are hallowed when there is no other hope but in them.. So, a moral message in a book that doesn't really encourage such principles.

Date: 2012-10-27 01:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ecosopher.livejournal.com
Will you be posting a transcript of your philosophy presentation anywhere? It's one of my areas of interest.

Date: 2012-10-27 06:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Yes, I tend to publish them on a section of my main website; however will be moving it soon. Will keep you notified.

Date: 2012-10-28 01:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ecosopher.livejournal.com
Thanks. I look forward to it.

Date: 2012-10-27 01:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fluffyblanket.livejournal.com
Thanks for the info about Mondragon ! Although I live in Spain,I didn't know that .Euskadi keeps threatening to break away-anything to escape from SS Kampfführer Rajoy !!!
¡La crisis-que paguen los ricos!

Date: 2012-10-27 06:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Now how did you miss out on knowing about one of the world's most successful worker's cooperatives? You probably buy their products!

Date: 2012-10-28 06:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fluffyblanket.livejournal.com
How stupid I am ! Spain is the second largest country in Europe,after France - Russia doesn't count cos most of it is in Asia ! I once met a Basque gentleman who wanted to visit Japan to meet the Ainu people who are also language-isolates .I've vaguely heard of Mondragon but didn't realize its significance ....Duh !!!!
: (

Date: 2012-10-28 11:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Well, you know now :) So now you can go help build a success story!

(And I should do something here about cooperatives as well)

Date: 2012-10-31 09:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
A copy of the Mondragon audio and the presentation slides is now available online:

http://fbe.unimelb.edu.au/alumni/events/recent_events/2012/mondragon_public_lecture

Date: 2012-11-01 07:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fluffyblanket.livejournal.com
¡ Muchas gracias , compañero!

Date: 2012-10-27 06:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tzunder.livejournal.com
I've just bought a new edition of the Prince for my Kindle thanks to you.
Not a fan of Cthulhu games so I'll pass the next rpgreview.

Date: 2012-10-27 06:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Even if you're not a fan of Cthulhu games, I do recommend having a look at such variations in rules such as the Gumshoe (in Trail of Cthulhu) system for other settings.

Date: 2012-10-27 06:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tzunder.livejournal.com
I am a longtime BRP player, and I bought 'Fear Itself' which is the second Gumshoe game.
I kinda fancy running a grim Scooby Doo with it.

Date: 2012-10-28 02:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Oh yes, I know your BRP history :) Good to see however that you've been exposed to Gumshoe and I do like the setting you've suggested.

As a person who thinks about such things, do you think that their attempt to introduce skills as a resource narrative works?

Date: 2012-10-28 12:33 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
You know I did rather like that and in fact I am considering using it in Traveller where the skill range is similar and could be viewed as a narrative resource in much the same way. Robin has a real point about using points to find things that are critical to a plot, and skills to resolve acts of urgency. It is dependant on a structure underlying a plot/conspiracy and not all campaigns/games/groups/GMs have that.

What did you think?

Date: 2012-10-28 10:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Certainly I agree with handing over plot clues "for free"; using plot devices is necessary standard fare for narrative development (I have an old Infinite Images gaming club t-shirt that reads "Don't shoot! I'm a plot device!"). Certainly I agree with the concept of using skill points as a resource over a game session (although there is the question of variable length). Also, I think the single d6 for tests however is somewhat limiting.

Overall an excellent concept, albeit with less than optimal implementation.

Date: 2012-10-28 12:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tzunder.livejournal.com
Which also reminds me what a trad gamer I have been in recent years, returning to Traveller and BRP big time.

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