-
Old Friends
"...are like a familiar voice from a foreign country."
Or so says my inner Ambrose Bierce.
This entry was originally posted at http://kilroy.dreamwidth.org/394057.html. Please comment there using OpenID. -
Collecting some examples
I'm building a list for analysis. I need twenty or so good universes of any fictional variety that have a bunch of persistent, politically relevant factions with different cultures and/or goals. Help me out ( Read more... ) -
The Elements of Roleplaying
Getting this down before I lose it.
Roleplaying games exist at a unique intersection of three elements: triumph, immersion, and collaboration.
Triumph: Roleplaying games allow players to take actions to achieve their goals against some opposition. They are games-- they inherently limit the options of the players via the system and setting, which ( Read more... ) -
Today's formulation
Roleplaying is being someone you want to be doing things you want to do in a place you'd like to see.
This entry was originally posted at http://kilroy.dreamwidth.org/392825.html. Please comment there using OpenID. -
Still Round
I find it amusing and humbling that on my very first night back GMing after a six-month hiatus, my players threw me a perfect "why don't we fly in the top of the volcano" moment. And not only did I not see the obvious coming, but I didn't roll with it. Instead, I pretzeled the plot back to something resembling my original intention... when with a ( Read more... ) -
Dear My Bank
When you change the bank software such that I am obligated to use a shorter password, pre-generated security questions, a widget-based interface, and choose my security image from cute animal pictures, it is not an upgrade.
This entry was originally posted at http://kilroy.dreamwidth.org/392315.html. Please comment there using OpenID. -
Surprise Meditation
We carry our burdens,
manufacture joy,
fight disappointment,
and forget
that we are not the world--
until we are pierced
by a single unsought moment.
One glimpse of fathomless everything.
It is the blessing of knowing
that where the unexpected happens
there is always the possibility
of change.
This entry was originally posted at http://kilroy ( Read more... ) -
Midnight Meditation
I am alone between two moments,
wrapped in the illusion of stillness.
Here there are no triumphs,
only empty memories.
Here there is no future,
only distant silence.
Here there is only vast, unknowable nothing;
no sound but the echo of my own voice.
When I speak, my words become the world.
This entry was originally posted at http://kilroy. ( Read more... ) -
Winter Wind Meditation
In darkness there is the winter wind:
the clarion snap
that awakens the lost,
abjures the wasted,
and respects only purity.
Feel it blast through you,
scouring your very breath
until only flame remains.
This entry was originally posted at http://kilroy.dreamwidth.org/391316.html. Please comment there using OpenID. -
Near Horizon
I vaguely remember reading/hearing J. Michael Straczynski saying once that Babylon 5 just dropped on his brain all at once, and he had the basic setting and plot worked out in a matter of days ( Read more... )