I got a new phone yesterday! The HTC Imagio from Verizon. It is pretty sweet, although I think it'll be at least another day before I have everything setup the way I want on it, lol.

If I have your number, let me know what you want your ringtone to be. I'm lame and unoriginal, so I'm willing to entertain ideas.

00011010

"I am known to men as Dr. Orpheus! And mine is to perceive and control the delicate arrangement of the cosmos!"


Matt and I have been talking for over a year about a project wherein we change the very nature of our tabletop RPG experience. It all started awhile back when I discovered that a lot of gamers were building custom gaming tables, usually incorporating unique features that are specifically styled towards tabletop gaming, whether it be messaging chutes, player stations, or cup holders.

But the two of us, not being ones to think small, started sketching out what our dream setup would be -- not even just a gaming table, but a full room setup specifically crafted to make for an epic gaming experience for all involved. Our feature list quickly went past the formation of the table and dipped its toes into the realm of multimedia and interactivity. 

A year after starting down this road, we've started getting more serious talking about what it would take to build such a thing -- and to do it inexpensively. We think we have a plan on how to go about it, and so I present it to you now --

Design Goals:

• Create an expansive feature list for a supreme gaming experience.
• Use any and all resources to complete the project for as little cost as possible, even assuming a dearth of hand-me-down or second hand materials.
• The final product must be able to easily be duplicated with directions and a list of materials. 

With that in mind, all of our proposed features, materials, processes, and ideas go up on a website for public consumption. Anyone can contribute thoughts on the project at any time. We bring everyone along for the ride, use the feedback to improve the product all the way through, build the damn thing, test it, make tweaks, and when we're done, we release the plans and materials list to the masses.

An open source gaming table!

This sound like a fun project to anyone else? Any additional thoughts? Any features already jumping to mind?

-Chris

I wouldn't mind Patchy's life for a little bit. One of the most carefree lives I can think of...even with the frailty and asthma.

Umm...to put it simply...you know that graduation during ACEN thing...yeah. Chickens, hatch, etc. Obviously despite the guise of ACEN, that would not be a good thing.

Still treading water...barely. Heat Transfer is starting to get clear and when the professor, even with his many MANY teaching flaws, says that going from knowing nothing to showing progress alone is enough for him to warrant a passing grade, it's a bit of a relief off my chest. Especially now that I have a general clue what the FUCK is going on. But that's not the class I'm worrying about...

Mike's super awesome super sextacular birthday weekend is nigh alongside Thanksgiving Break without wisdom teeth which cuts the things I can do during break to basically playing games or watching stuff. So good deal. Except I know I won't be able to do all that I want. But the goals are to finish Geass (still kinda early R2), finish Abyss and possibly replay P4. Also might get around to watching Nanoha A's and StrikerS that have been on my lappy for god-long.

Chili and zombie movie night with Matt and Colleen was epic. I always forget how great Evil Dead 2 is. I know I had a great time chit chatting about an assortment of different nerdery, including an upcoming Cthulhu LARP.

Our Galena trip was fabulous. We got all sorts of neat things at the canning company, including pumpkin butter, pickled okra, honey mustard pretzel dip, chocolate cherry butter, and deer sausage. I have finally been to the Italian place for more than just wine and appetizers, however I was not so impressed with the ravioli. In fact, I do not recommend it. I can make much better at home in a microwave, seriously. Next time I told Brian we are going to the Irish Cottage. I also got a hippie skirt at one of the hippie stores. Everything there was super cheap, I was surprised. And like a good woman, I bought an apron to wear when I'm cooking for Thanksgiving. Emma loved the trip. She was a huge ham the entire time, trying to get everyone to look at her and tell her how cute she was. At the restaurant, she just stared at people until they looked at her, then she would give them a huge smile. She's so sneaky. Overall it was a great vacation.

I have an awesome LARP update, but I will put it in a separate post.

Matt and I have been working out kinks in the Cthulhu live system. There aren't really problems with the system, but we are altering it to try and get the player experience we want out of the game system. I'm not a huge fan of changing a system, but I tend to do it a lot. Usually something is written for a pretty good reason, and changing it just makes a hiccup. This later bites you in the ass when other rules that were dependent on the rule you changed, comes into play.

( More detail on Luck &Keys and what inspired us... )

We are linking the use of character "keys" to the sub-stat "luck." At any time a player can add luck to a challenge to give them a little extra boost. (Kinda like getting an extra die in table top.) When a character performs a key, they get a point of luck. I'll write more on this later, as Matt and I are putting the game together. :)

...but this will have to do.