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Two stories: Public Transport and Gaming
So I'm halfway on my 1.5 hr journey to work on Wednesday when the Business Director rings to say one of the routers has fallen over and could I return to the city to reset it. No problem; it's one of the things I do and besides I quite like hanging out in big rooms with thousands of servers humming away. Finally returning to deepest darkest Croydon I discover that there's another twenty minutes for the next connecting bus so I visit the tiny second-hand bookstore in the arcade and discover a small mountain of ancient roleplaying tomes going very cheap indeed. I put aside some twenty books and promise the shopkeeper to return the following day. Two stories follow:
The first was the return journey home in the evening. It begins with the bus being late and thus not connecting with the departing train to the city. This happens sometimes and requires a further twenty minute wait. Then the inevitable; "Connex apologises for any inconvenience caused", a sound to whit Melbourne commuters should respond with a slow chant of "Connex are wankers". The second train had been delayed by a further fifteen minutes. Finally arriving at Richmond station the connecting train there wasn't due for a further minutes and that one was going to be an additional fifteen minutes late. I ended up catching the ever-dependable 246 bus home; a service that has been stable since I first moved to Melbourne fifteen years ago.
The fact is that Melbourne's train system, once considered the envy of other cities, is now totally dysfunctional. The incredible incompetence of the private providers, who are so bad that even the British Conservatives have admitted that rail privitisation has been a failure (notably this is from the same company). However, let this be a rule of thumb: private industries do a worse job at infrastructure than public organisations. The PTUA is on the right track in this regards (pardon the pun), but the "Socialist Left", Transport Minister seems to think the government should have marginal responsibility at best.
Now, story two; arriving the following day before the bookshop closed, I collected my twenty RPG books for the bargain price of $150. The shopkeeper enquired whether I was interested in the others. "Not this time" was my response ('twas a heavy load, being twenty books). "How about the rest for an additional $100?". It was a bargain I couldn't refuse. Dispite the incredible difficulty of travelling from Croydon to Ripponlea, I eventually made it and catalogued my haul: fully 134 books, including several boxed sets, a dozen hardbacks, old Tunnels & Trolls classics, a dozen Ars Magica books, twenty Champions scenarios etc.. Ran Seven Leagues last night; seriously fun system set in magical and mythical faerie realms; have also hacked our way through half of G2: The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant, in the ongoing retro-AD&D game. Recently reviewed the new Earthdawn Players Compendium and Ruby.
The first was the return journey home in the evening. It begins with the bus being late and thus not connecting with the departing train to the city. This happens sometimes and requires a further twenty minute wait. Then the inevitable; "Connex apologises for any inconvenience caused", a sound to whit Melbourne commuters should respond with a slow chant of "Connex are wankers". The second train had been delayed by a further fifteen minutes. Finally arriving at Richmond station the connecting train there wasn't due for a further minutes and that one was going to be an additional fifteen minutes late. I ended up catching the ever-dependable 246 bus home; a service that has been stable since I first moved to Melbourne fifteen years ago.
The fact is that Melbourne's train system, once considered the envy of other cities, is now totally dysfunctional. The incredible incompetence of the private providers, who are so bad that even the British Conservatives have admitted that rail privitisation has been a failure (notably this is from the same company). However, let this be a rule of thumb: private industries do a worse job at infrastructure than public organisations. The PTUA is on the right track in this regards (pardon the pun), but the "Socialist Left", Transport Minister seems to think the government should have marginal responsibility at best.
Now, story two; arriving the following day before the bookshop closed, I collected my twenty RPG books for the bargain price of $150. The shopkeeper enquired whether I was interested in the others. "Not this time" was my response ('twas a heavy load, being twenty books). "How about the rest for an additional $100?". It was a bargain I couldn't refuse. Dispite the incredible difficulty of travelling from Croydon to Ripponlea, I eventually made it and catalogued my haul: fully 134 books, including several boxed sets, a dozen hardbacks, old Tunnels & Trolls classics, a dozen Ars Magica books, twenty Champions scenarios etc.. Ran Seven Leagues last night; seriously fun system set in magical and mythical faerie realms; have also hacked our way through half of G2: The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant, in the ongoing retro-AD&D game. Recently reviewed the new Earthdawn Players Compendium and Ruby.
no subject
Thanks for the fairly balanced review. I've been a big fan of ED since it came out, and really appreciate the craft and artistry that Redbrick put into their edition.
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No problem. I quite like Earthdawn, and Redbrick have done a great job. I'm thinking of organising a game for Unicon.
no subject
1)A mass combat system, based around forge-ish fortune in the middle Conflict resolution. (One of a few interlocking modular mass combat systems in the works, some more crunchy war-gamerish, some squad based)
2)I've vectorized the Barsaive and Vivane Box set maps into a basic Flash map. Demo has scrolling/zooming, and all the places on both maps (as well as cara fhad book map, and the crystal raiders book map)...Working on a digital terrain map that includes elevation.
3)Working on developing a "Keys" xp/Legend system based around The Shadow of Yesterdays 'Keys" system. Called "Key Passions" each character can have up to 5 Key Passions that serve as a Legend engine, tied to one of the Passions in the Game. Example: Raggok (Revenge, Murdered Brother) Gain 50 Legend when your character discovers something that will lead them closer to the target of her revenge. Gain 150 Legend when you cause the target of your revenge to suffer an inconvenience or annoyance. Gain 300 Legend when you cause your target lasting harm or strife.
Players are urged to select Key Passions to represent "Plot/Action Flags" for their characters, i.e..what they as players want to see the Conflicts of play about. These Key Passions allow the GM to generate Bangs, etc, etc.
4) Developing Steampunk and Clockpunk themed additions to the setting (The T'skrang of the Serpent Rive Houses already have Steam Engines, and the right events would lead to sharing that tech with key allies), with the addition of new Magics, and Disciplines, and Tech. I wanted to open up the possible settings and themes one could explore to include gritty, noir, and punk.
Oh, and if you're not familiar with it, I would urge you to check out the Earthdawn Publishing Trust (EDPT.org).
Namaste