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Class Warfare, Marketing Consultant!, The Odyssey, Gaming, CDs!
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greylock has pointed me to insightful reports on the matter; an interview with Kerry O'Brien and John Howard. Given that these changes aren't about increasing productivity (indeed, there's a good argument they'll cause a loss of productivity) one is left with the obvious conclusion that they're about increasing profit at the expense of wages and conditions.In international politics, Schroeder shows ineptitude in losing the Chancellorship of Germany that, if he were prepared to deal with his natural allies (the Left, the Greens). Of course that would mean he'd have to admit he was wrong about welfare and IR reform.
Pakistan earthquake toll looks like it'll be over 30,000. The Australian government donates $500,000 which compares rather poorly to the $10 million given to the American Red Cross after Cyclone Katrina.
Gave my second presentation to Prosper Australia on the principles of marketing last night. Started off my giving my opinion on people who engage in marketing without having a personal commitment to a product; I quoted Bill Hicks (expletives deleted of course). How about that? I'm a marketing consultant. I better take up cocaine or something.
lokicarbis, caseopaya and I went to see a modernised version of the Odyssey last week after a quick visit to 2600. Loki's comments that they were trying too hard was appropriate. The presentation of Circe as a naked dominatrix didn't work either, which is kind of surprising.envoutante is visiting soon with a whole bunch of EMB, industrial and 90s goth CDs she's selling. Excellent!Have been debating the relative benefit of randomness in game design.
_fustian? I haven't forgotton. I'll send an email tomorrow with more on the Outbreak of Heresy game. Damn writing is time consuming.Oh, and Rogue escaped under a nine foot wire fence and was almost eaten by a cat earlier in the week. He's safe now. Silly rat.
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Hey those Fate Points were my idea! The first implementation *ever* (as far as I can tell) which distinguished between advances in character as simulation and narrative ability of the player through roleplaying.
The bad part were the optional variations I had to include, courtesy of editorial demands (which Monte Cook was very apologetic about).
BTW, I agree ;-)
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I think they're a damned fine idea, no mistake. I sure as hell wouldn't play Rolemaster without them (or a tall stack of pregenerated backup characters).
The idea of fate is such a key element in 90% of fantasy literature I can't believe it isn't more integral in the RPG systems.
And karma, well karma is just a cool idea.
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In my D&D game, any time a player does something that Makes The GM Happy, they get a shiny pewter brain. (I bought a bag of the things from Chaosium before figuring out what to do with them.) They can't be obtained by bribes etc - it has to be something in-game. Mostly it's for doing something clever but in-character that I hadn't expected.
They can trade these in for a reroll, or to wheedle me on a doubtful rules point. If the rules aren't clear, and neither side looks like conceding the argument, I'll ask "Do you want to spend a brain?"
So far, it's been quite effective for resolving those arguments. It cuts down on the time we spend haranguing one another, and it's a bit more democratic than "The GM is always right" without turning it into a free-for-all.
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Same deal. 'Cept these days I give out brains/Fate Points/Poetic License to "anything which makes the game more enjoyable". Which includes players doing some historical research on the place their playing.
Maybe I'll accept bribes one day ;-)
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I do actually. It's the only beverage of that sort (beers, ales etc) which I really like.
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Still, at least I know what to bribe you with now...