Silverlion Studios Blog: Ramblings of a Madman.

Rargh!

I am still alive. Still working on stuff. I managed to write a novel for NaNoWriMo last year and am planning on publishing it once I get cleaned up a bit. Which is actually tougher than writing the novel itself. I've got to get back to blogging regularly and getting my posts up. Also, I'll be adding Vblogs here as well. Just so much going on (health problems mostly.) I've not had a lot of time to get the things done I need too. However, I'm going to work on minimizing my wasted time and focus on productive time, with the caveat I still need to recharge.

The unexpected train...

Sometimes, you get hit by a train you just didn't expect. Especially when you've asked for an ambulance. I'll probably be back to blogging here for some time due to things that happened recently. Good news, I'll probably do both video and text. Video blogs are easier to make, but honestly, like a few other people, I like just reading things sometimes. Because of my absurd reading speed. The number of times I've just thought "get to the point!" In video links (reviews, etc.) Makes me realize that text is sometimes better to share than videos. Anyway, I'm still writing. Just hit by the train. At least it wasn't the bus of craziness that some authors hit, and get really strange afterward.

Writing.

I am busy writing. I have lately been sticking to making my blogs--the few of them I post, as Vlogs. I feel that I come across better as a speaker than a writer sometimes. Mind you, I think I can do both quite well. Just a very busy life I've been leading. I wonder how much writing on H&S is too much? I'm trying to stick to my outline but also fill in the details. So much work to do, and so much done. Its quite overwhelming at times. Endeavor on, I must.

Gaming.

I've got a Tuesday night, Skype based role-playing group. We've settled on playing, Hearts & Souls Super-heroic Role-playing. We spent last night building our (fictional) city by the sea: Tower City. As well as discussing the pitch and what kinds of things we wanted in the game.

I'm rather interested in seeing how characters will turn out under the "Rank" character generation system, as well as being built to the pitch and their city. Last time we played it was a one shot, and we randomly rolled heroes--which is functional, and not as crazy as most random roll super roll super character generators. That's both a positive and a negative--as it is sometimes fun to roll under the crazier systems and see what you get, and then making sense of the chaos.

Tower City is a coastal town somewhere on the East Coast of the U.S, looking out over the Atlantic Ocean. It seems to be burgeoning with new technologies. A manned Mars mission is in the works, as well as it being home to many research and development companies.

Thematically we have "Science gone mad!" "Alien infiltrators," and "Seedy Underbelly." as background elements.

We shall see how this all grows and twists in life.

I continues writing Hearts & Souls 2E, mostly working on the setting. Maybe I can find some people to read through the game and the outline and help me parse down what I'm missing. I tend to get a bit overwhelmed when looking at it all. In other news, I got bored a while back and rolled up some "D&D" style fantasy setting elements, I've been slowly hammering into shape. Most of it started randomly and I evolved it--but it needs a lot of work, still I'm enjoying the creative amusement of "random" and my own brain fitting together. Here is that link Feedback is wanted and welcome!

Game Writing.

As of late, I've been behind on game writing. I sometimes feel I need to get a partner to help me writing, to help keep me on track and to divert me from repeating the same mistakes at the same time. Mostly, I've just been busy with life and that's impaired me getting anything done. I endeavor on, however. Short form: Hearts & Souls is heading towards a new revision of the 2E materials. Mostly just tightening up language and moving towards completing the mechanics. E.o.N is pretty solid concept, I just need more art, and to find time to sit and write it. Derelict Delvers is being hammered on, but I'm having some mechanical difficulties that keep me caught between simple and doing what I want it to do. Other projects are on hold while I continue working on those three and my novels. Longer Form: Hearts & Souls needs an alternative to random generation and make up what you want as a tertiary option for chargen, I'm considering "pick an archetype and add X ranks as you wish to the max of the campaign Pitch." Derelict Delvers is caught between the number of character modifiers versus the need for action science dice. Simple solutions would be to make it a dice pool system. Or to cut back on the modifiers. I think the former is more elegant in the long run, while the latter allows me to focus on smaller numbers. E.o.N is mostly about getting the flavor together. Its dark, even for me, and I'm afraid that may turn some people off, because it very much didn't start out as dark as it has become. Yet at the same time I think it has a place, and can be fun, without being too depressing. Horror+Modern Space Opera have an appeal. I need to get the hope inside it to blossom a bit.