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July 17th, 2009
02:55 pm
Today might not have been the best day to bike to work.
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July 15th, 2009
03:18 pm - Otakon
Is there anyone going to Otakon this weekend that can take a bunch of t-shirts from my house (in Sterling, Virginia) to hand out to whoever wants them? The t-shirts are new and from a series of anime video games I worked on in the lat 90s.
Thanks!
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July 13th, 2009
03:07 pm - Halfway There
In one sense. We've* finished more than half the character sheets for Lullaby of Broadway 2. Only 41 characters left to write.
However, the following things still need to be written/produced:
- Update the Rule Book for Episode 2
- 3 Blue Sheets
- Lyrics Book
- Name Badges
- Contingency Envelopes
- Stats/Romantic Requests/Death Tracks
- 17 Clue Chases/Puzzles/Scenes
- 12 Specialized Game Mechanics
- 29 Reoccurring Cast Characters
- Assorted Props and Set Pieces
Sigh. No rest for the ambitious. :)
*We = Mike (33); Diana (7); Ben (1); Merav (1); Others are helping, too.
Character count 42. 51% done.
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July 4th, 2009
11:57 am - I Have Enjoyed The Past Four Days
The player of Benjamin Coffin III has dropped.
Character count: 35. 42% done. Also, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) anubisgrrl has volunteered to write some. Thanks! Happy Fourth!
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June 30th, 2009
09:35 pm - I Shall Enjoy This While It Lasts
Lullaby of Broadway 2 is full. At least for full player characters.
We still need about 3-5 cast. Costs a lot less and you get to play all sorts of characters.
Character Count: 33. 40% done.
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12:36 pm - More No.
Episode 3 of LoB will feature The Wiz and Wicked.
But not this:
No, definitely not.
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June 29th, 2009
02:51 pm - Web Side Story
Nope, won't be in LoB 2
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1913584
Character Count: 32. That's 39% done.
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June 20th, 2009
02:16 pm - More eBay Mania
OK, I got a little punchy putting this one up on eBay, but it's a fun read, right?
Also, check out my other autions: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/ambug666_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZ
For the love of all that is good and holy, buy this crap. Please.
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June 19th, 2009
10:33 am - Two Things
I want to see this. I don't know if it's LoB 3 worthy or not, but I want to see it. Maybe it can be combined with Cats. Maybe I could go up one weekend just to see it (and visit relatives, of course).
Also, I am trying to put a thing on eBay a day for at least a week. Yesterday's thing is: Look At The Schmuck On That Camel Board Game
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June 18th, 2009
11:40 am
It happens to everyone. Really. At first the project is a bright, sparkly land of possibilities. You design and develop, energized by the act of pure unbridled creativity. It is fun, perhaps the most fun part of the creative process. At this point there are no limits, no drudgework. Just The Design.
But then comes The Work. Assembling. Writing. Coding. Whatever. Suddenly you have to make whatever it is you have designed happen. And this is where I have been lax. Sure, sometimes I get to write a particularly clever turn of phrase or it is interesting to see how the plot will be presented to the player, but I never feel more like a hack than when I am writing character sheets.
And they must be done. I have a deadline. A hard, fast, deadline if I want the players to get their characters two weeks before the game. There are 77 full characters to write, 6 replacement characters, and I-have-no-idea how many cast characters. Then there are the clue chases and side scenes, the information sheets, and the rule book. All told, we’re looking at, what? Over 500 pages of text? 600? 700? That’s a lot!
Right now, I’m about two weeks behind schedule. But I’m hampered by the fact that I don’t want to do this. This isn’t fun. It is work, hard, drudging work. The creative part is either done or I need to scrape the bottom of my creative barrel because a character has slipped through the vetting process without enough to do. Oh it’s rewarding work, sure enough. I get a lot out of the reactions when I give the character sheets to the players. But that won’t happen until September. Until then, it is work. Transcription. Converting GM notes to player readable materials. Blah!
I’ll get through it. I always do. But right now, I’m at the ebb of my excitement for Lullaby of Broadway Two. I know it will be a great game. I can see how busy people will be. I can see what they’ll be doing at the game and can predict to some degree the flow of the plots. I think the event will be a fun, rewarding experience.
But – wow – is it hard work to get there.
So, rather than this just be whining without anything constructive, I thought I’d talk about what I do to get past it.
First thing is I try to set a writing schedule such that it doesn’t take over my life. I’ve seen too many LARP writers go crazy the weeks before a game trying to get everything done at once. I spread out my pain over several months so that I only have a little bit of pain at a time, but I also have a life. Unfortunately, I have managed to have too much of a life lately and am behind in my writing. So now I need to play catch up. But I try to schedule it so that I can take breaks, breathe, and be with my family and friends.
Secondly, I track my time. I have a little spreadsheet that I keep updated to see how many characters need to be written (58, including replacements), how long I need to work on a character to meet the September 1 deadline (1.29 days/character at the moment), and when I would finish if I actually kept to my likely schedule of 1.5 days/character (9/13, about 2 weeks late).
I collaborate. Besides the other people who have written and are writing character sheets (thanks!), there are a number of people on the Lullaby of Broadway writers’ list. And I know I can go there and say, “ok I need a plot involving X, Y, and Z,” and someone will provide something useful. Sometimes I even get an overabundance of useful. It’s far better than trying to scrape the barrel when you discover that a character was less plotted than you originally thought.
Here’s an interesting thought: do you know who provides the best plot ideas for a character? The player of that character. That’s because the player is actively invested in the character and is thinking “wouldn’t it be cool if…” Many LARP writers want to spring plots on the player, but I can easily think of several examples where the player suggested plot ideas for their character that were just excellent. If you’ve got a resource that is that rich, it’s almost a crime not to use it. So what if the player knows a little of what is coming? You can always twist the plot here and there and make it a surprise if you have to.
And finally, I write. It has been said that if you want to be a writer, you need to write every day. Even when you don’t want to write. Especially when you don’t want to write. And so I do. I don’t have to worry about the blank paper syndrome. I have my notes. I know what needs to be written. I just need to do it.
So, what do you do to get through the writer’s blahs? How do you force yourself to put words on a page?
Character count: 25; Lola will be done before I go to sleep tomorrow.
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June 17th, 2009
12:40 pm - Film Zendo II
So, balthazar99 won the last one handily and promised to do three if he won this one as well.
The object of the abstract game Zendo is to deduce what the "rule" is by which the examples are drawn. Your task is to determine what the common thread is which ties all of the following movies together...
The Scorpion King
Them!
A Bug's Life
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull
Empire of the Ants
Phase IV
You may also give suggestions of other movies that fit the rule, and I'll let you know if they have "the Buddha nature."
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11:39 am - Film Zendo
thebeardedone did a game of Film Zendo which I won, and by winning had to host the next round.
The object of the abstract game Zendo is to deduce what the "rule" is by which the examples are drawn. Your task is to determine what the common thread is which ties all of the following movies together...
Movies are not my strong point, so I have included a play and a musical in the list. Since I have DVDs of both, I insist they count.
Brazil
Pulp Fiction
Psycho
The Princess Bride
Fallen
Hamlet
Urinetown
You may also give suggestions of other movies that fit the rule, and I'll let you know if they have "the Buddha nature."
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June 15th, 2009
02:08 pm - The Internet Is Random And Weird
( This... )
( Led to this... )
Character count: 24. I'm working on Mr. Applegate now. Character sheets have a small 3-4 word description of the character under the name. For his character sheet, The Devil is in the details. Oh, I'm only amusing myself...
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June 11th, 2009
10:24 am - Holy carp!
Thank you PETA. You have made my day enjoyable and surreal once again.
( put under a cut because it starts with sound -- stupid PETA )
Character count: 22. So very behind schedule. Will be 23 by the time I go to sleep, by hook or by crook!
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June 8th, 2009
01:26 pm - Chucky's Cheeze Lessons Learned
It’s been a while since I’ve written a post mortem about a LARP I‘ve run, but I’ve felt the need, so here’s a post mortem about Chucky’s Cheeze, a scene I ran at the most recent Threads of Damocles event.
( Here there be Giant Rats )
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May 29th, 2009
02:04 pm - Song Quiz
OK, it's been a while since I've done this. I have ten songs, plucked kinda randomly from my mp3 player. For them, I've picked a word or phrase I especially liked. Can you give me title and artist (for songs from movies and musicals, I'll take song and movie/musical title).
1 Groundhog! mnemex
2 monkey butler wgptrey
3 Drop to my knees to elicit crowd response artful_username
4 cats eat birds (answer: Facts About Cats by Timbuk 3)
5 Orbiting Rondelle wgptrey
6 I’m a consummated man sharrainchains
7 she could hear the highway breathing learnedax
8 They've got a pet monkey who likes/To get drunk and sing boogie woogie starfyrone
9 Once I thought my innocence was gone castalusoria
10 Hey, I've never seen the sun come up in the west? wgptrey
Some of these are pretty easy. Some are harder. How many can you get?
Edit: I thought this was pretty easy. Hints: #2 is by a singer/songwriter who seems to have a thing for monkeys. #8 is an oldie. You probably won't get #4.
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May 28th, 2009
09:32 am - A Snake! A Snake! Oooo It's a Snake!
One of the best things about riding my bike to work is that I get to cut through Claude Moore Farm Park. Besides not having to worry about insane drivers, I get to ride a paved path through woods and a farm.
Sometimes I see sheep. Sometimes I see deer, close enough to touch.
Today I saw this guy looking at a stick on the ground. As I got closer, the stick slithered away. A snake, likely a rat snake. So cool!
I need a bike riding icon.
Characters complete: 18, and should finish Svetlana tonight.
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May 26th, 2009
09:55 am - Screaming Puppets Show this Saturday
My improv group has a show this Saturday at the Laurel Mills Playhouse on Main Street Laurel.
Here's the relevant information: http://www.laurelmillplayhouse.org/announcements.htm
If you show up and tell me "I saw it on Mike's Livejournal" after the show, you'll get a $1.00 refund, which I will personally give you out of my own pocket. I'm not above bribing my friends to see my shows.
Character count: 1/2 character more than last time. Will finish him tonight.
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May 23rd, 2009
02:09 pm - You Need Drew's Truck Redux
People have asked me how much shipping would be for the four boxes of You Need Drew's Truck. They are:
25lbs - First set of cards.
30lbs - Second set of cards
15lbs - Envelopes, Rules, Play Mats, and some Magnets
50lbs - Metal Plates, More Magnets, Labels
Shipping from 20164
Let me know if you're interested.
Also, Character Count: 17. We're still on track, but I need to pick up the pace or we'll soon fall behind.
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