Back in Kiev

AND OVER TO UKRAINE

I wasn't feeling particularly good on the day I left.  Upset stomach and all of that.

The people on British Airways were kind enough to let me destroy the first class restroom.  I've never been a fan of contortions but fat people on airlines...

Arrived in Kiev, Ukraine.  It was about then I realized I'd totally forgotten to research to find out where to go.

Just touched down in a city - no schedule, no hotel reservations.  What would you do? 

I said 'Fuck it'.  Go with the flow.

Went to the information desk.  "What's the bus into the city?" 

"Bus three two two."  She had me repeat it to make sure I got it.  Went outside and asked around.  Found the bus.  It had no numbers on it and nobody knew what I was talking about.  "City?"  Da.  Cool.

Got on it.

Always ignore or politely get rid of any taxi drivers within the airport unless you are in really unusual circumstances.  They are there to rip you off.  Since I'd arrived during normal business hours (close to noon, two PM something like that) the bus was fine.

Got on it, paid my $4 and sat back to see where I'd end up. 

Main train station.  My escape.  Cool.

While there, I picked up a Ukraine sim card.  It was cheap enough that I've already forgotten how much it costs.  Now I have internet, ho ho ho.

Looked up a hostel, found one that looked pretty good just a few blocks from the train station.  Drug my baggage over there and - it's closed down awhile ago.  Just nothing to change it on the internet.  Questioned the locals, even talked to the lady who bought the place.  My Russian still sucks horribly but I am starting to remember what little I know of it.

Hostels are often fly by night places.

Eventually, I found a place that offered a really horrible shared room for $4 and a solo room that you couldn't open the door all the way for $12 and a larger miserable room that had it's own bathroom and stank for $22.  After staying there for a night, I determined that it would not do to stay there for a week or ten days while the US Embassy worked out my passport woes.

Went exploring early the next morning.  Never book a place for multiple nights when you first get somewhere if you have time - get up early and try to upgrade your situation.

Checked out a chain (Ibis) which wanted $70 to $90 per night.  In Ukraine.  Crazy, crazy.

Went to a fancy hotel and bargained the price down to $34.  It's more than I can really afford (price started at $50 and it is 'high season') and eventually I may move to a place Sergey suggests well away from the city center which costs $23, but for right now, this will do. 

So on day two I got a $4 taxi out to the embassy - which was closed.

I'd forgotten the second biggest holiday in all Slavic countries, May Day.

Those who watched old footage of the Cold War (which I lived through and even worked in) will recall big military parades when missiles would replace the Soviet leader's penis and be rolled out for inspection.  That May Day.

Still a big thing, apparently.

Well, shit.

So now it is Monday.  I have been told to try back on Wednesday.  Maybe they will be open and back then.  Cool.

I hate staying at expensive places and I'm not much into Kiev either.  Looking forward to visiting my friends here then GTFO back to Lviv and then checking out Uzhhorod. 

In conclusion, it is possible to land on your feet traveling by the seat of your pants - but the more expensive of country you are in the riskier it is.  I would  never do this in an expensive country.




TTRPG OLD WAR STORY

One of the stories I like to tell is about a newbie vampire (not a bright player at all) who shifted into a wolf - and fumbled the roll.

Me: "Good news and bad news - you've shifted into a wolf but you're stuck like that for the adventure."

Him: "No problem!"

And it wasn't - until he came up with what he thought was a brilliant idea and wanted desperately to communicate it to the rest of the party.

Party: "What's the matter, boy? Is little Timmy trapped down the well?"

Him: "I want to write with a stick in my mouth!"

Me: "Tell you what - you're in a super unfamiliar form. It's really awkward for you. But I'll make you a deal. You can stick a pencil in your mouth and write in the dirt outside. If any of the players can read it, then your character can seamlessly communicate."

The other players were of no help, rolling in laughter and suggesting the wolf try 'interpretative dance' to communicate. No - the stick didn't work.





OLD EGYPT STORY

Desert story.  OK - this is a real life story (maybe it can be used in a game) that happened to me back in the early 90's. 

I was in Egypt with two fellow travelers.  Two of us had decided that the anal ways of the third traveler were getting to us and if he died, we were strangely comfortable with that.

At that time (maybe now, didn't try last time I was in Egypt) it was possible to ride horses in the literal shadow of the pyramids.

The guy renting the horses asked us about our horse riding skill.  I told him I'd ridden a bit - while no expert I was comfortable on a horse.  My friend Mustafa had never ridden before but was agile.  The other guy we were thinking about maybe killing (I hadn't mellowed back then) Hunter claimed to be a 'great rider'. 

So we got on the horses and were ambling along.  Mustafa seemed comfortable and he asked the guy in Arabic (he was fluent) if it were possible to make the horses go faster.

The horse master renter guy had a stick with a bit of string tied to it and a knot on the end of the string.  He flicked it and I swear, it sounded like a gunshot.  No idea how.

Suddenly, the horses were at a full gallop.  I enjoyed it (fuck cantor, walk or gallop are the only good speeds) - Mustafa had his arms spread way too wide clutching the reins but seemed to be doing fine.

Hunter was obviously uncomfortable at this speed.   He attempted to slow down the horse by giving it plenty of reign, moving his weight a bit forward, lowering his head and lifting his rump.  In short, things a jockey wanting to win the Kentucky Derby might.

Mustafa and I both began chanting 'die' as Hunter's saddle began to be displaced with the weight as Hunter began to slide off the right of his horse.  Big,  head sized rocks zipped by.  Eventually, the horse became so overbalanced with the 'great rider' it had to slow down.

Mustafa and I were both disappointed.  At that point, Hunter decided that traveling by himself to a different continent might be better.  Everyone was happy.

THE ART OF GAME DESIGN

GAME DESIGN

I'm going to write down some thoughts on game design.  

Mark Rein-Hagen designed the wildly popular 'Vampire the Masquerade' game.  He was also involved with 'Magic the Gathering'.  That's the guy I worked for during a couple months and tried to learn from.  Disclaimer:  He wasn't trying to teach me game design - we were working on games.  The stuff I've put down here are things I believe I've gleaned from him.  In fairness to him, I may be completely off on some of the stuff.  Up to him to correct me if he wishes.

For posterity, the games I've worked on include:  

Succubus - party game involving specialty playing cards.

Victoria - a board game.

I Am Zombie - a revolutionary new roleplaying game.

What I think I've learned from Mark Rein-Hagen:

1.  You have to build up a good amount of various useful contacts.  These include such people as artists, musicians, film editors, writers, editors, etc.  Game design is a team sport.  Unfortunately, all of these people will require paying.  

2.  The person who will be designing the game risks several thousand dollars in capital.  But what of Kickstarter?  Yes, this money is spent well before going onto Kickstarter.  You have to have a working game beforehand.  Also, art sells the game.  Art is amazingly expensive.  For something the size of a playing card, I've been told the usual price is $100.  Holy crap.  If someone were to ask me "How much money should I start with?"  I'm going to guess at $5000.  No clue how much profit this could roll into with a successful Kickstarter, but it could be a nice amount.  The money part I didn't really get involved with, other than being an ongoing cost.

3.  When Mark worked, he set himself a very tight deadline to complete enough of the game to appear on Kickstarter.  Keep in mind that you have to make the game then play test it a lot.  Other groups have to sign NDA (non disclosure agreement) forms and play test it.  If you are able to silently watch them play, so much the better.  If you try to help talk them through it, you get skewed data.   Most folks agree that a year or longer is needed to develop a game.  Mark chopped the time frame down to three months and compensated by working fifteen hours a day on it.

4.  When giving assignments to writers, you have to be extremely specific.  The more general you are, the less usable the result.  If these writers are in daily meetings with you, the vision can be more easily shared.  If not, be even more specific in your writing assignments.  By specific I mean you have to make an outline then ask them to flesh it out.

5.  Art sells games.  I've mentioned this before but Mark mentioned it often enough that it deserves it's own bullet point.  Mediocre art means you sell less or not at all.  This is why you have to pay big bucks for professional artists.  Trying to get your friend 'who can draw' to make art will handicap or destroy your game.

6.  Always think in terms of monetization.   The role playing industry is pretty much crippled because as soon as a book comes out it is scanned and put onto torrent sites.  If all you are printing is a book, you won't make much for it.  This also goes for movies, audio books - anything that is easy to turn into data.  Sure, there are a few honest people and collectors out there but not enough to fully fund your project.  And yes, many people spend a lot of time bitching that it shouldn't be this way.  Guess what?  It is.  Deal with it and think outside the box.  This is one of the reasons the roleplaying game "I Am Zombie" uses a dynamic character sheet comprised of playing cards.  Sure, someone could try to print out crappy copies of the cards in black and white and they could be used but the cards aren't that expensive and will look and feel so much better to use that buying them will make more sense.   Also, special poker chips are used which have many words printed on them for skill bumps.  And other things.  Very crafty, clever thinking on Mark's part.  The important thing for gamers will be that it combines into a solid game.

7.  Like all roleplayers, I've spent time working on game systems - whether new ones or altering existing ones.  The conversations would go wildly off track, degenerate into Monty Python jokes and so on.  Mark didn't allow this.  We worked hard and kept focus on the game.  Churn, churn, churn.  Whether we were driving, shopping or eating when we were on the clock we were expected to be working.

8.  You can't hype a game too much before Kickstarter comes out.  Get ten thousand people eagerly awaiting it's appearance and you are most of the way there.  Less than that it may be stillborn.  

In conclusion:  If you are wanting to develop a professional game for publication that actually earns money, it is a lot more work than altering a few rules of an existing game with your friends.  A lot more has to be ready before kickstarter than I thought.  Prepare yourself for hard work and significant financial risk.  When you think it's done, hype hype, hype...

Ramblings of An Old Man - Lumsie book

Back when I was playing NERO I had a character who wrote a trilogy consisting of four books. Yes, he was that kind of character.

Because some people have asked for the books I am going to put them here in my blog so that we can keep them around - well, for as long as the blog isn't deleted anyway.

I'm not sure how much you'll get out of these if you aren't into roleplaying games, LARP's and that sort of thing. If you're not into it, that's all good - skip any entries with 'Lumsie Book' in them in the blog. There are only four books and I'm not playing NERO any more so you won't be assailed unsuspectingly by more in the future.

There will be a total of four blog posts with this information on - one for each book for cleaner access.

Note that sadly the original difficult to read fonts didn't survive being brought into this blog. Very sad. Much easier to read - but still very sad.

I'd also like to thank Derek and Julie Jones who had these on their hard drive and were kind enough to send them over.

Keeping Your Skeletons Their Whitest - Lumsie book

Back when I was playing NERO I had a character who wrote a trilogy consisting of four books. Yes, he was that kind of character.

Because some people have asked for the books I am going to put them here in my blog so that we can keep them around - well, for as long as the blog isn't deleted anyway.

I'm not sure how much you'll get out of these if you aren't into roleplaying games, LARP's and that sort of thing. If you're not into it, that's all good - skip any entries with 'Lumsie Book' in them in the blog. There are only four books and I'm not playing NERO any more so you won't be assailed unsuspectingly by more in the future.

There will be a total of four blog posts with this information on - one for each book for cleaner access.

Note that sadly the original difficult to read fonts didn't survive being brought into this blog. Very sad. Much easier to read - but still very sad.

I'd also like to thank Derek and Julie Jones who had these on their hard drive and were kind enough to send them over.

Book of Tactics - Lumsie book

Back when I was playing NERO I had a character who wrote a trilogy consisting of four books. Yes, he was that kind of character.

Because some people have asked for the books I am going to put them here in my blog so that we can keep them around - well, for as long as the blog isn't deleted anyway.

I'm not sure how much you'll get out of these if you aren't into roleplaying games, LARP's and that sort of thing. If you're not into it, that's all good - skip any entries with 'Lumsie Book' in them in the blog. There are only four books and I'm not playing NERO any more so you won't be assailed unsuspectingly by more in the future.

There will be a total of four blog posts with this information on - one for each book for cleaner access.

Note that sadly the original difficult to read fonts didn't survive being brought into this blog. Very sad. Much easier to read - but still very sad.

I'd also like to thank Derek and Julie Jones who had these on their hard drive and were kind enough to send them over.

Book of Everything - Lumsie Book

Back when I was playing NERO I had a character who wrote a trilogy consisting of four books. Yes, he was that kind of character.

Because some people have asked for the books I am going to put them here in my blog so that we can keep them around - well, for as long as the blog isn't deleted anyway.

I'm not sure how much you'll get out of these if you aren't into roleplaying games, LARP's and that sort of thing. If you're not into it, that's all good - skip any entries with 'Lumsie Book' in them in the blog. There are only four books and I'm not playing NERO any more so you won't be assailed unsuspectingly by more in the future.

There will be a total of four blog posts with this information on - one for each book for cleaner access.

Note that sadly the original difficult to read fonts didn't survive being brought into this blog. Very sad. Much easier to read - but still very sad.

I'd also like to thank Derek and Julie Jones who had these on their hard drive and were kind enough to send them over.