gamer pig test blog

Wow, I was featured! I was actually planning to write about my favorite GM training book: Project Management but I was surprised that this got featured :).

I just answered a question that is a history major should be able to answer. "Why was the tradition of pricing land equal to its annual productivity instead of future productivity?" If that doesn't get me enough geek cred, then... stuff like that happens. I'm doing too much homework that is not my work . Answering questions that pertain to subject matters I have personally took extracurricular effort to study is a weakness. Knowledge and study are things we hold with so much pride and confidence, it is no wonder when a chance to prove it comes along one cannot help but get sucked in to act on it. Eventually I will forget a lot of this, and will tire arguing about "How much wealth, a knight should have?" and focus more on my business studies and at work. Knowledge is meant to be used or forgotten and since there are many other priorities in life its not that big a loss. To remember a time when I was the Byzantine Guy.

congratulations to me . I've been asked to contribute to FFF . First time my writing actually has gotten me somewhere good... considering how many times it got me into trouble. less forum... not . I have to trim down my forum participation, particularly in the sjgames forums. I'm slowly working my way there as I compile my works on my GMing Blog. Drawing for Honorvers . I've gotten some semi-commitment to draw for honorverse. infact I have some art in my notebook now but I didn't like the draft. Maybe i can just post it in my deviant art under scraps. Space Combat Card Game. I don't like the marketing structure around CCGs. given current printing tech I plan to develop with Arj some games, including a print on demand Space Combat Card Game System. Basically its a CCG where people are free to use good quality proxies but can order the higher quality ones on cardstock. The structure take advantage of todays game design technique maturity but with the fine marketing ...

The book isn't very clear though is it? What kind of average? Mean? Median? Mode? This is why we have clarifications, FAQs and such. At any rate, I think you are missing my point. I'm saying that IQ 10 doesn't mean anything differently in 1453 than it does in 2009. Therefore the 1453 equivalent of a template that in 2009 would have a modestly high IQ (like 11-12) such a template for a military officer or national politician perhaps, shouldn't have genius level intelligence. Of course I intentionally chose to fail my Control Rating Roll to stop myself short of Trolling this remark. It basically is SO Frustratingly ...SSSSSSTUPID! Basically, the guy is telling us to compare IQs Irregardless of population standards! So I get all the greek philosophers who developed/discovered empirical thought and scale them with todays standards. Consider that it was when we had probably a world population of 20M comparing it to a population of what is now 6 Billion! ARRRGGGG Sigh... ...

My GM disallowed me from taking Secularist humanism for discipline of faith for a character as it doesnt count as a religion? But discipline of faith The problem with this is how do you define Faith? there is no GURPS definition of it, and the dictionary definition has too many cultural afflicted terminology to it. Here is the game rules of the disadvantage: Disciplines of Faith You live by a strict set of rules in order to achieve a greater understanding of your faith. This might be a personal decision or a requirement of your religion. Such rules are optional in many faiths, though – indeed, some religions might forbid them as excesses! What set of rules do Secularists follow? The wikipedia tenents is a helpful guide . Does it affect my personal decisions? Yes, I can't just do something and justify it as "God told me to do it!" or twist it around to suit my circumstance. Are they a form of rules in order to achieve a greater understanding of my belief structure or fait...

Miles Vorkosigan and Tyrion Lannister . hehehe, one of my favorite small people. These two guys have a lot in common: they are both considered gross deformations by their society and go through many challenges with more problems than regular people of even their given station/opportunites. Going through the web, I'm surprised not to find more discussion and comparissons about the two characters. How to Organize Intelligences: First off, there will be no Intelligence Stat. I won't even split it to several stats as Arson pointed out. What I had in mind was listing all the skills people are conditioned, instilled, practiced and educated on to the character sheet, hopefully using backgrounds to fill in minor details through some basic assumptin the background may provide. Then focusing in giving these skills, under their skill description, descriptive tags like: emotional or empathic (I haven't thought of the best tags for it). The Idea is not to outright define a Character...

Simulating Intelligence in RPGS. Study of the human mind has advanced so much that the idea of Intelligence as a Single attribute is becoming quite obsolete and also absurd. Role-playing and Fiction barely catch up to these latest developments since it is still in its infancy and there is a growing sense of a "barrier" for how much people are willing to accept the recently gleaned understanding over the human mind contrary to their own experience. Considering this and looking forward I've come to the conclusion to eliminate Intelligence as a basic attribute all together in the Situational Awareness Exercise System (or Open-source Role-plaing Game System: ORGS) that I'm developing. Instead I will use the most detectable and observable aspect of intelligence to determine have a general sense: Skills. Conditioning, Memorization, and Intrinsic Understanding of Fundamental Elements make up the multi-faceted human mind. We have emotional-int, problem-solving, self-awarenes...

Well, I'm not planning to be a gun nut but I can see why it is such an attractive thing when you get to know more about it. Guns are like Horses, there are different "breeds" that came together under different circumstances. Manufacturing Limitations, Budget, Time, and Variations in Priorities is what created the huge variety of gun species out there. They slowly improve, but they still suffer some key physical limitations that can not be overcome until the advent of super-science. As a product of economic scale, manufacturing limitations, and human priorities guns will be a round even when we have the power to colonize the stars. After Honorverse and re-imagining what technology, economics, sociology and history has made clear about the future: wars in the vastness of space will still use guns like the AK47. Realizations: About Missles and Torpedoes . Being someone who began from anime, I liked the aesthetics of blossoming tendrils of missile swarms popular in almost any...

Status Quo. The hardest thing to change and one of the more imperceptible elements of society. I've always been chiming the ubuntu bell, ever since I was able to try it out and found it easy to use. Now, given what little free time I have, I was able to squeeze in and install it. It is kind of an adjustment since I've used Arial in all my writing since 2005 (ever since my professor praised it and I was zombie-ly followed). ORGS . Open-content Role-playing Game System is the reason why I've been too busy to write material for my other gaming blogs. Basically I've developed a game system specifically for use of Role-Playing Decision Making Senarios for Educational Purposes. Of course it can also be used as a game, but I've focused more on the elements that makes RPGs useful in education. Stragic Planning Tackling Projects Risk Assessment Adapting to Unfavorable Outcomes Self Criticism and Reflection on one's thinking process Its basically non-competative to Role-...

Busy . the Game theory lessons are among the many things I'm juggling. Work discontent is another, and an aspect I cannot move in until my father arrives and I have a good talk with him with my plans. There is my plan to study entrepreneurship formally. I'm also in the middle of a business plan, with low barriers and requires some serious capital. I'm also trying to set some foundations for my other business plans. Then there are the ton of stuff I'm stretching my self too thinly over. Looking at all the causality, its usually the discontent. I don't like being here and I really feel like I don't belong. I really should leave but its just awkward, but more importantly I don't have a clear exit strategy. I want to "prodigal son" and ask for some money from my father in advance to help start a business. There is something that really bothers me about being here, I'm too sensitive or I've taken the Game Theory thing a little too far in readi...

Destiny? For someone who doesnt believe in destiny, this would make me a believer (in a another universemaybe). Still this has affirmed more of what I have had in my gut for the longest time. Growing up with my reasoning always thrown against me as wrong, because of dogma and canon of my culture this is what makes my whole world seem right. I feel like my grandfather when he stepped of the boat with his new wife and just the clothes on his back. I guess it reaffirms what my wife and I feel about the future: everything is going to be alright. This is not because of some form of hope or religious premonition, it is because I now know I've been seeing the truth the whole time, even if it was just a small piece of it. All my arguments and all my discussions have not affirmed so much as what I have affirmed today when I read more about Game Theory: or shall we say Strategic Decisions making . I'm a Pig for Gaming, and the truffle of truth I found is finally mine (insert porky mania...

Hepa B . I just came from the clinic to get an Antigen-HBS??? (or something). I was supposed to be there for my forehead lump but since it subsided and the doctor didn't think it serious I decided not to waste Php400 ($8) on a follow up check up and spend Php355 ($7) on a test if I've finally developed an immunity. Its been 3+ years, I hope I'm ok cause I don't like spending the equivalent of minum wage on my Hepa Viral meds every month. Tokens . Got a lot of errands out of the way. Ready for the game with 2 sets of poker chips. One batch for visual markers (smallest poker chips, a color a player, will paint the extra white batch black), red larger chips for weapon heat, one for fatigue and another for wound levels (i decided to keep the wounds MUCH simpler). I just have to arrange my NPCs and spend some time infront of a caffe to get the visual and personality quirks of passers by for my them. Again I follow my basic rule: professional skills (skills where failure has ...

This post is about different perspective of gaming. There is a 10+ year generation gap. Also it is me being a prick and bugging some guys to talk about their gaming. It guarantee it will be very boring if you're not the type to be take gaming a little too seriously. I want this around for posterity. reply to Before any Sci-fi . My take on your piece is that you have your playing/GM style which is quite different from ours. You want things ordered and pre-arranged. We on the other hand have adopted the fly by the seat of our pants style. We don't need all specifics all the time. We need the background, yes, but it is kept in the background. We hate micromanagement because it tends to bog down the game and leads to early GM burnout. The reason we keep things cloudy is that it gives us leeway to steer the story the players are creating to keep the game enjoyable for all. Besides, another GM might want to come along and take over for a spell. The canvas is big and there is nothing ...

I read a little excerpt about holy warriors, and I find it ironic that clearly to a their own people: extremist jihadists are holy warriors . What greater sacrifice can an individual contribute than their own llife? (but my own answer to that rhetorical question is very different.) What the excerpt says about holy warriors is what everyone thinks about them. Searching for an Ideal, someone to fill our traditional expectations of what is good in an ever shifting and changing present. Basically: "I want flint and steel" when everything is wet and we have gasoline and a lighter. Tradition is safe, it is what we grew up in, it is what we were taught to follow, it is what we assume to be right. Isn't there a better way to learn what is right? Isn't there a way to be able to adapt to the massively growing information that is continuously testing our assumptions to a point of constant uncertainty. Civ 4 . Looking back at my Civilization 4 game, playing the Byzantine Empire...

This is related to the timeless truths post . Other Sources: http://questinggm.blogspot.com/2009/04/13-reasons-why-wizards-want-you-to-buy.ht\ml http://thefineartofthetpk.blogspot.com/2009/04/if-websters-adds-blogtroversy-thi\s-year.html http://friadoc.livejournal.com/tag/editorial+paizo+pathfinder+wotc+opinion http://rpgcentric.com/wotc-officially-cuts-off-its-nose-to-spite-its-face.html

Game Theory . If you click on this link, you find a bit about game theory. Recently I've been investing in some entrepreneurship consumables. One interesting investment was 14 hour lecture on Game theory. It is interesting when I think about the synergy of Game Theory and Hot Decision Making, which is needed with entrepreneurship. Battle tech . Well, what I liked about the Mech Warrior Computer Game was that it was that it was really fast paced. After playing irsoft and I noticed that the decision making under fire and from the POV of the combatant is very different from moving pieces on the board. I've made adjustments in the way I handle combat on Table Top combat: reduced decision making time, reduced general visibility of opponents, and in general didn't allow PC to PC communication unless they really spent seconds speaking. Battle Tech also weirded me out, when I had to glean some very basic engineering and manufacturing principles, and basic military theory (all learn...

A mess . I'm a bit of a mess from sleeping only a few hours every day for the past week. I know it is about time for me to fix my sleeping habits. I will have to make some serious decisions about my priorities. Organizing . I will write down my objectives clearly. I will critically assess how am I to best spend my free time and how I am to meet my cathartic needs despite my busy sched. I should really not squeeze any of these things at work. I've been feeling guilty about it, and it has slowed my progress immensely. Post Apocalyptic . The guys want to play post apoc. Its all about the 2012 thing. I have a 4 hour budget in developing it. That is a "slot" of an afternoon. I will draw up some achievable bench marks that will try to keep game perp within that budget. "Finished or Not Finished" Byzantine Game: Sins of the Crusade . I admit that as I think more about it. It will take more than 10 hours to prep this. I guess I have to rough it and wing some part...

This Discussion . I really should not comment, so I'll comment over here. 1. What is Between the Lines . A new Setting? why would the OP want a new setting. GURPS can do any setting and its players play any setting that tickles their fancy. What is really frustrating to many GURPS lovers is actually the Market for RPGS. Its golden age has been almost 25 years gone. There are many and strong factors that are contributing to its weakening grasp, despite it new freedom to play the game. 1.1. Virtual Table Top . WotC has the business strategists and experts to see this is the direction in where gaming can reclaim some of its lost market. If they are the industry leader and see that this is where it is going, then why isnt SJgames going there? We'll get to the reason soon. 1.2. Ebooks . Many have moved to EBooks, SJgames has their e23 and Drive Thru RPGs caters to this market as well. EBooks saves money in costs: in inventory, printing, and publishing. It allows for a wider distribu...

I find this important. I personally like the last message notably.

Its like a wasted P80 . The Smart Bro bandwidth sucks half the time (although it feels like most often). Damn, PLDT is making me jump around hoops getting my internet connected. I'm waiting for my data would be received and its been zero for the past 20 mins. At 10P per half hour I'm pretty ripped off. Not only is this expensive per minute but the Internet can't connect while I'm on the clock. I started trying to write this since Lunch! Damn still no internet and my palm is able to access the smart internet better than the smart bro, which is making me feel worse about smart bro and the problems getting internet here. Get my juices going . I'm in a lame position right now and even if my gaming projects would normally get my juices going, what would be the point? I don't want to get to a depressed state but I'm not in a good position to act on what I know will get my juices going. Looking for potential players has been what I've been doing for so long and...