Multi Post!

Let’s try a Mr Anderson style multi-post.

Taking a small break from The Limit today to catch up on paperwork, filing & various projects that take a back seat when I’m in full-on scriptwritey mode. Biggest thing at the mo’ is that not only was it a relief to be at the end of TP2, it was also really satisfying to be writing the big Tracy/Peter scene.

I’m also getting to better understand the nuances of each character’s motivations. Watching Buffy Season 4 taught me that you really only need to know what characters have just been through and how that makes them feel RIGHT NOW in order to be consistent. Let’s call it the ‘stay one step ahead’ mode of writing.

***

Lost, Season 2. Not only do I approve of the general direction, the stuff they’re revealing totally appeals to my inner-geek. However, what I wonder is whether the more Lost reveals & the more it locks down, then the more it shuts audience members out.

Remember how its initial appeal was its universality? "People struggling to survive". We could project ourselves onto their plight. Well the show's definitely abandoning that for increased specificity about what it's about. Has it given too much away – or created fresh grounds for speculation?

I thought they’d locked down too much with Episode 3 ‘Orientation’ but on reflection, there’s still a HUGE mystery to be solved (for instance, all the information we’ve just been given could turn out to be completely misdirecting the audience while simultaneously laying out future story-points to be explored). There’s the fact that Locke was healed on the beach. There’s the character stories on the island and their entwined backstories before the plane crashed (and the unanswered question of exactly how much of a coincidence it is that these particular people have landed here).

Lost may well have pulled off what it needed to: seeming to provide answers while still maintaining its inscrutable charm. For me, this’ll be its crucial season though – the season I pass judgment.

Also: I’ve never sided with Sawyer in the Jack- Sawyer debate before Episode 3. But give Michael & Sawyer their own spin-off show. Call it “Angry Men on a Raft”.

***

tech.memeorandum is my new favourite site. It not only aggregates blog entries, it also lists other blogs that are writing on the same topic. For instance, now I've learned that 2.6GB from Google can turn out to be very expensive and that Zombie PCs. are out to get advertisers.

And here’s an expensive piece of VR estate. Someone paid $100,000 USD for a space resort amidst the treacherous but Mineral Rich Paradise V Asteroid Belt, in the virtual universe, Project Entropia.

***

Queen Bees & Wannabes has started dealing with girls’ first steps into dating. Some observations:

1. Groups of girls entering puberty may not want boyfriends themselves, but they want to find out about relationships – so they’ll nominate a girl and set them up in a relationship (to observe the effects).
2. Queen Bees set up girls with boyfriends in order to buy their loyalty.
3. A fundamental criteria for group acceptance is to date someone that has the group’s approval.

It’s like the freakin’ Mafia out there.

In the ‘Girl World’ that Wiseman describes, boyfriends are crucial because they a) increase self-worth, b) make a girl’s friends think more highly of her, and c) prove that she fits into teen culture.

***

There’s a feedback thread on Left Coast at the Forge.

Last Breath is another 24 Hour RPG – set in a post-plague world; one of my favourites. It’s a raw, very realistic setting – there is no ‘adversary’ – no Rage infected victims, no Dark Man to defeat. It’s The Stand without any fantastical elements.

I like the set-up phase – quick, engaging. The world ends. You have to deal with it & in the process meet your fellow players. Plus there’s a really simple dice mechanic for acquiring the resources you’ll need to survive.

***

Do you think anyone wrote Vader/Leia slash-fic before Empire came out?

Post 499.

[The Limit] So. Close.

I’ve mapped out this rewrite on four A3 pages – and today I crossed over into the fourth and final page. Once again, I slowed down - kind of freaked out & scared – and began a massive blast of procrastination.

Then I remembered how angry I am at this script. How much I want to finish it so I can get it out of my life and do something new. That anger’s built through the day until now I am fully focused on bring this thing home.

So, I’ll be even more focused on the script over the next week or so. I’ve scheduled 20 days to finish this section; hopefully I can finish much quicker. After that, organise all my brainstorming and then finalise it. And then the final ‘tighten up & proofread’ draft.

So close.

No idea how frequently I’ll be updating over the next week. This is Post 498, so I guess there’ll be a couple more.

[TV] "Small Town"

At our last brainstorming meet, we worked up a quirky small town drama-horror, based on a poem by Vivianne Plumb. It was cool to see that from a "Northern Exposure meets The Big Lebowski and they fight American Gothic" idea, we got some fascinating characters and a nasty cross-generational story …

I've written about some roleplaying implications of the meeting, here.

Queen Bees & Wannabes

By Rosalind Wiseman

It’s an analysis of the social group formed by teenage girls in American high schools. The movie, Mean Girls, was based on it. (Here's my review of it.)

THE POINT (seems to be) At high school, you don’t realise you’re fighting a long game. Short term, the choices you make may increase your popularity – but long-term they cost you control over your self-esteem.

Part 1: The middle of the book.

(Much of this is verbatim ...)

What don’t girls like so much about their friendships with other girls? The answers tend to be about competition: over looks, style, friends, popularity and boys. (This is great – because most of the comedy I write comes from competitiveness … so knowing this just made my job easier.)

Teasing in a clique is done to put the recipient in her place (below her in the totem pole). It’s usually effective because the people closest to you know how to push your buttons best.

And a note for busybody parents: Adults seem to forget: if you get the bully into trouble, at some puoint she’ll find you and no one will be around to help. You must teach your daughter to fight her own battles. Your involvement should be limited to strategising with her about what she wants to do and then affirming that she has the strength to carry it out.

24.4 (2pm to 3pm)

“Don’t you think you’ve made me miss enough TV today, Jack?”

Tony’s domestic life is hilarious!

Edgar vs. Marianne is hilarious. The car bomb is awesome. The whole show is basically like hanging America’s Id & super-ego out for all to see.

***1/2 (out of 5)

[TV] 24.4.whatever

24.4.whatever
**** (out of 5)

This ep resolved all the main plots 12 minutes into it. Jack rescued his girlfriend and the Secretary of Defence and then defeated the terrorists.

After the commercial break, the writers started introducing new tensions: Paul the jealous fiancé, Audrey’s dad learning about Jack and then ordering his son to be tortured, Beruz – about to be executed on the orders of his father, and then the double whammy of a the meltdown device and a traitor within CTU. Old hat by now. Like, who hasn’t been a traitor inside CTU?

Anyway, with a double cliffhanger the show is very much back on form.

24.4.whatever the next
** ½

Not so much with the return to greatness but I’m looking forward to seeing more of Tony.

This is a weird show. In order to maintain suspense, there are radical changes in the basic situation and the cast between seasons. This creates a different viewing experience from most shows. We would never expect to care about a person who suddenly appeared between seasons and started a romantic relationship with Buffy. For most shows, we expect that sort of thing – and our attachment to the characters – to be earned. 24 assumes the viewers will play along.

[Script] Energy

Another way of looking at storytelling in the movies* is that each phase of the film has a different 'energy' about it.

Taking War of the Worlds (2005) as an example (because that's where I first noticed this), you have four different types of energy in the story. The move from the normal domestic set up to the full on terror of the invasion is almost unnoticeable. The transition between the two happens in a bravura 15 minutes set piece involving lightning strikes and a stolen car. That full on terror of being pursued is sustained for what seems like a full hour. But then there is a noticeable gear change when Tim Robbins arrives in the film. All of the action becomes confined to a single location and the emotions darken towards paranoia and despair.

After finally emerging from this location, I was almost begging the film to do something different - and it obliged by shifting first into taking the attack to the aliens and then into daylight.

The trick, I think, is to be aware of the emotions and mood you're generating & how the audience feel about that. However, what to do about it may well depend on a case-by-case basis.

*I think this applies much more to films than television because the film is designed to be watched in one uninterrupted burst, so you are more attuned to variations in tone and intensity. With TV, you are coming back from a commercial every seven minutes so there will be more emphasis on trying to re-establish mood and story.

[The Limit] Halfway

Halfway through this brainstorming phase of the draft. Taking a day off to let my mind refill with creative goodness & get some distance from it.

I'm enjoying the writing. It's starting to go faster - and I'm expecting to keep up that pace until I hit the big re-writes in Act 3.

[RPG] Left Coast wins!

Holy cr@p! I just won a Ronnie for Left Coast. That's a $25 prize (US) + feedback and mentoring from Ron, if I understand the terms of the contest correctly.

This is cool. The game came together really easily - I had a lot of fun writing it. I'm glad Ron thought it had merit. Looking forward to the feedback thread.

[TV] Boxing with lovebites

Spent a lot of Sunday with Ainsley and Sean, moving and sorting through boxes of contracts and tapes that Ains has been storing since the liquidation. Lots of fun, lots of memories & some teary-eyed moments as we came across photos of all of us hanging out back then.

What a conspiracy feels like

Thought I'd link to this extract from Scott Ritter's new book (he's the guy who was co-ordinating weapons inspections in Iraq in the mid-90s). Towards the end of the extract, he goes to tell his boss that he suspects his organisation has been infiltrated by the CIA:

I carefully typed up a point paper outlining my concerns and specifying the information I had gathered, and requested a meeting with Duelfer in the U.N. cafeteria.

I slid the paper across the table to Duelfer, and began my brief. He listened without expressing any emotion, casually reading the paper as I made my case. He sat in silence for some time after I finished, contemplating what I had said. Finally, he looked at me. "Scott, I can't comment on any of this. All I would say is that you probably would do very well not to ever mention it again."

"Charles, we work for UNSCOM," I replied. "If what I have written here is true, we have the potential for a compromise that could not only end UNSCOM, but perhaps endanger the lives of some of our inspectors. We have to inform the executive chairman of this, and at least launch some sort of inquiry with the United States to find out if there is any validity to this, and if there is, to stop it before it's too late."

Duelfer looked at me, frustrated. "Scott, I can't make it any clearer than this. I cannot discuss this. This never happened. And if I were you, I'd drop the matter right now. If you go forward, even to tell [Rolf Ekéus, the UNSCOM chairman] you will be opening a huge bag of trouble for you. I would imagine you'd have the FBI come down on you very, very hard, and you don't want that. Take my advice and back off."

I sat there, letting Duelfer's words sink in. Was he aware of the operation?

What a conspiracy feels like

Thought I'd link to this extract from Scott Ritter's new book (he's the guy who was co-ordinating weapons inspections in Iraq in the mid-90s). Towards the end of the extract, he goes to tell his boss that he suspects his organisation has been infiltrated by the CIA:

I carefully typed up a point paper outlining my concerns and specifying the information I had gathered, and requested a meeting with Duelfer in the U.N. cafeteria.

I slid the paper across the table to Duelfer, and began my brief. He listened without expressing any emotion, casually reading the paper as I made my case. He sat in silence for some time after I finished, contemplating what I had said. Finally, he looked at me. "Scott, I can't comment on any of this. All I would say is that you probably would do very well not to ever mention it again."

"Charles, we work for UNSCOM," I replied. "If what I have written here is true, we have the potential for a compromise that could not only end UNSCOM, but perhaps endanger the lives of some of our inspectors. We have to inform the executive chairman of this, and at least launch some sort of inquiry with the United States to find out if there is any validity to this, and if there is, to stop it before it's too late."

Duelfer looked at me, frustrated. "Scott, I can't make it any clearer than this. I cannot discuss this. This never happened. And if I were you, I'd drop the matter right now. If you go forward, even to tell [Rolf Ekéus, the UNSCOM chairman] you will be opening a huge bag of trouble for you. I would imagine you'd have the FBI come down on you very, very hard, and you don't want that. Take my advice and back off."

I sat there, letting Duelfer's words sink in. Was he aware of the operation?

[VW] Dylan Horrock's lecture

Totally absorbed by Dylan’s lecture yesterday (unlike the 4 year old kid someone brought along). According to the blurb, the subject was:

Imaginary worlds are everywhere these days. From Hogwarts to The Sims, people are spending more and more time in places that don't exist. Dylan Horrocks takes a look at the importance of ‘world building’ in novels, comics, art and games - including Henry Darger, Dungeons & Dragons, the Bronte sisters and Star Wars - and asks what happens when stories become worlds.

It was very entertaining, using lots of slides, images from comics, quotes and film clips - including a stunning remix of the starwarskid download.

Condensing the talk down into 2 points, here's what I took from it ...

1) Self revelation. You should reveal yourself, or truths about you, in a world you create. Other people will recognise and key into this. As one of the quotes that Dylan referenced said, there's the real world and how we perceive the world. In the process of creating something, "Art turns us inside out."

2) Worlds implicitly convey that self revelation. What that means is that even when you remove the characters and what they do from a story, the world that you're left with (its geography, population and history, for example) still convey themes and conflict.Worlds have meaning.

It was also fascinating to hear the sad story of Ed Greenwood and how he sold the Forgotten Realms setting to TSR, plus cool to see Paul Czege’s Nicotine Girls get cited as an example of a game created to encourage Narrativist play.

[Script] Stakes & Conflict

I’ve talked before about how I’m trying to train myself to write dramatic scenes by keeping track of the Stakes (the question we want the scene to answer) and Conflict (the people who represent the opposing answers) in a scene.

What I’ve realised is that I need to have a living stakes & conflict document right from Draft 1. It travels along and develops with the script as it goes through each new draft, constantly getting adjusted and updated – and eventually handed off to the director (hopefully me).

The reason is so that I can tell exactly what each scene is about and whether it’s contributing to what the movie is about.

With Possessions (hopefully my next script, based on Sean’s story), when I start work on a rough outline I should be keeping track of the characters’ wants, making sure they are consistent from scene to scene (which’ll be vital). As the story solidifies, I can make sure I’m driving towards conflict all the time, and build up the stakes.

[DRM] Pay per episode 2

Here's a follow-up post to earlier today. It presents the business case for what's going on with vPods.

Questions:
Who is blogmaverick?
Who is Bob Iger?
Why am I not using Google to find the answers? Answer: I'm too tired.

THE POINT: This seems to be the first readily-apparent paradigm shifting response by the Nets to the reality of internet piracy/free downloads.

Who would pay $2US to watch an episode of a show when you could BitTorrent it for free?
Answer: me, if I could be assured that a SIGNIFICANT amount of that money was going straight back towards the creators.

[RPG] Setting sucks

I'll be having a bit of a rant about settings in RPGs, soon (I can feel it building), but in the meantime read what John Harper has to say about how the wealth of setting detail in Godlike didn't help him run a good game, and his followup thoughts about Vincent's attitude: games should tell you how to play them.

[DRM] Pay per episode

John Rodgers over at Kung Fu Monkey has an interesting analysis of the new video iPod:

The more I think about this, the more obvious it becomes Apple has played Disney like a chump, and had Disney whispering "thank you, sir, and may I have another?" Apple just "allowed" Disney to bootstrap them into the number one spot in new media, even a step ahead of Bill Gates obsession with developing a "set-top box" run by Windows.

[Film] Sound Design

I liked some parts of this article on sound design by Robert Colvile.

Key quotes for me:

Virtually every sound you hear during a film has been constructed, overdubbed and manipulated to within an inch of its life.

Action films such as Bay's opt for a "wall of sound" approach - for Armageddon, he employed a scarcely credible 80-strong sound crew - to create a cacophony of special effects that bypass the ear for the innards. Decibel meters taken into the meteor movie showed that for long stretches it would have been quieter - and healthier - to stand under a helicopter's rotor blades.


Peter Weir recalls how Alan Splet, the sound designer who worked on David Lynch's Blue Velvet, "became ill from the sounds he was creating. He couldn't finish the film, they were so eerie and so awful."

[RPG] Left Coast

I finished writing my latest 24 RPG this morning. You can find it here at 1000 monkeys, 1000 typewriters.

It is much much larger than expected. 27 pages. Here's the premise:

You play a semi-famous science fiction author living in 1960s California. You and your peers are all scrabbling for the Big Break, held back by your everyday lives and problems - marriage, children, rent. So they feud with each other, struggle not to go nuts under the strain of their immense creativity and try to determine which of them is really a disguised extra-terrestrial.

Left Coast is inspired by reading about Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein and L. Ron Hubbard. It was written for the October Ronnies and uses the keywords 'fight' and 'cosmos'.

[Film] No-budget CGI sci-fi movies

I want you to read this post. Anyone want to make a CGI short film?

[The Limit] How to write a scene

So I’m heading back from Gino’s tomorrow. There’ll be a period of just resettling into my life and then a day where I’m working on my 24 game for this month’s competition, and then maybe a day off.

At the moment The Limit’s going really well – I’ve worked through the big rewrites at the start of the movie & now I’m at the point where I can get through vast swathes in a day. However, last time I took a break I kinda … forgot how to write.

So, for my mind-prodding, here’s some thoughts (I may have written something like this already) …

To write a scene, I – repeat, ‘I’ – need to set some stakes (What’s the question this scene’s going to answer? What do we care about?).

Then know what’s the conflict (If the question has 2 possible answers, then I need 2 characters/forces fighting or advocating for each side). As soon as one side’s one, it’s time to wrap up the scene. If at all possible, the sides of the conflict have something to do with the thematic conflict at the heart of the story. In The Limit, that’s Law vs Vigilantism (vs. Criminality). It’s all very Story by Bob McKee (c.f. Adapatation by Charlie Kaufmann).

What does each character want? These motivations need to naturally come out of each character’s previous scene.

Next I either brainstorm 20 things that could happen in the scene – issues, cool moments, motivations, lines of dialogue, things I want to see, random oddball ideas – in no particular order. It’s just stuff to inspire me.

Then I reorder that stuff into rough chronological order.

Otherwise, if I’ve got a clear idea of where the scene’s going I brainstorm a starting point, and then brainstorm again – what’s the worst they could do, to trigger a response from the other person in the scene? I keep swapping through each character’s perspective, trying to continually increase the tension in the scene.

I brainstorm 20 things because I read a book that recommended doing that.

I am a drone.

Seriously, I’ve always brainstormed multiple options for moments in my script. Off my own back though, I used to only devise about 7 different options for things – like punchlines when I was writing eps of lovebites. With 7, I found I came up with something that worked.

But with 20, I start getting oddball and insightful ideas towards the end of the process. If I don’t, I take a break and then keep going. I want to get the 'right' idea by the end of this process. Not some idealised 'perfect idea' - just have a decent range of good options to choose from, so I can move on.

Finally, I need to know the resolution to the scene. That means at some point, there needs to be a turning point in the scene where things head towards that resolution. And I need to bear in mind that that has an affect on the person who didn’t get their way.

More Blogger hacks

Stuff to try out later ...

Here's John's list of all his hacks.
Here's a way to categorise posts - which I will be yoinking ASAP - because manually going through and indexing is a PITA.
The return of expandable posts, here.
This seems weird and complicated and maybe awesome - how to publicly notify about comments from anywhere on multi-dimensional, not just comments on front-page posts.

[RPG] Jenni’s Mean Girls game

On the way back from a delicious sushi-lunch today, Jenni told me some of her ideas for her Kapcon game. The system sounds great – social combat and group politics at high school really hit the spot for me.

I can’t want to play it. I think, if it's even close to her pitch, it'll make a great sellable game too. More spoilerish observations in the comments …

[RPG] Feedback on All Growed Up

Blogger ate my post, last time I tried to write about this - but All Growed Up was judged 'unbaked but tasty' in the September Ronnies. The feedback thread is here.

Overall, I'm pretty happy. It's a game I whipped together pretty fast, I think it's got some tactical depth to it. What's lacking is a real 'why do we care' about the events that are happening in the game - but I think there's the framework of something really fun here.

Fun but dark.

[Film] Acting

Last weekend, I acted in a workshop for The Wasps. 5 actors and 2 directors. We rehearsed a few scenes and learned about the dominance games people play when they come into conflict.

Andrew & Danyl (the directors) were great at creating a safe environment - where you can improvise and make mistakes & still feel completely supported. That was probably the best part about the weekend.

We started off with lots of trust games (which somehow ended with me being spanked by 2 women while giving a guy a shoulder massage), then watched some inspirational material in the form of Project Greenlight and Curb Your Enthusiasm. After that, we spend the afternoon of Day 1 breaking off into pairs and working through a single scene.

That was another favourite thing about the weekend: a) exploring different takes and interpretations with another actor and b) that Danyl and Andrew were very laid back about letting us come up with our own understanding of the scenes.

And then I discovered that the level of performance was much more grounded and realistic than I thought. It meant that scenes that seeemed like simple comedy beats were able to get fleshed out & made human. I think there's going to be this weird humour in The Wasps, where pain and serious dramatic issues become hilarious.

Day 2 was even more fun. We took a scene, then just improvised it. By not relying on the script we all got a deeper sense of who these characters really were & how to present them in order to bring out the comedy. It was this awesome division of duties - me & Leah having fun jabbing at each other while the directors figured out what was working and kept pulling us in that direction.

[Film] Disintegration

Chris has been awarded a grant from the Film Commission's 1st Screenwriter's Initiative for his screenplay Disintegration (based on an idea by Ed). I've had the privilege of reading the script and I'm looking forward to seeing its creepy, serious horror-goodness on the big screen.

Well done!

[Film] I'm sick, I'm watching

I am sick. Like all-coughing, all-complaining all the time sick. So I’ve been watching a lot of stuff.

Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azakaban - ***

The first hour is the best HP movie yet, then it starts to fade away in terms of setting up and paying off the story. Exciting finale though.

Legend - **

Silly bad fun. Tim Curry is either supposed to represent dangerous mature male sexual energy or he’s been dressed to look like an inflamed penis.

Cube 2: Hypercube - *** ½

I actually liked that it was filled with ideas. They don’t hang together as a story – and in fact story basically gets deliberately abandoned & fractured and eaten – but it’s basically as flawed as the first one, just not as good.

Van Helsing - ** ½

Starts fantastically, ends in a mess. I could feel the slide in quality and entertainment as I was watching it.

The Forgotten - ** ½

It does everything right & Julianne Moore is pretty – but it’s just so obvious.

Lair of the White Worm - ****

Boy does this look like it’s going to be a dumb film in its first 20 minutes but it does a ballsy reveal of who its villain is, has a detailed backstory stretching back thousands of years that’s well worked out and effortlessly presented & it actually pulls of ‘that’ ending to a horror movie. If you see it, you’ll see what I mean. It is, however, a Ken Russell film.

Dark City – [no idea what to rate it]

Holds up way better the second time, but it’s paced like a trailer – there’s almost no grace notes or humanity in it; just the veneer of humanity. The trailer on the DVD is a perfect example of the post-Se7en industrial fear aesthetic. In other words, it’s really funny to watch now.

The Village - ****½
I love this film - it's so emotional, it's so well-motivated. I find it holds up on a second viewing because it's about people and why they do things, not about the plot. In fact, the reason I'm not fully engaged in the film (and why it doesn't get 5 stars) is because it falls down so badly when trying to address the plot. But that's minor to me. What's major is how masterful it is at misdirecting you to what story you're watching ... & how people so idealistic can also be (in my opinion) so evil.

[Biz] Anti Paypal

Seeing as I'm thinking of using Paypal to receive payments from customers on my site, I was interested to run across this site: Paypalsucks.com which is definitely worth a deeper read.

[Film] Serenity Reviewed

Roger Ebert gives it 3 stars.
James Berardinelli (see the sidebar) will review it later today.

I'm out of here for the weekend. Acting in a workshop for The Wasps. Hopefully, I'll have stuff to report on Monday.

[Biz] Self-publishing an RPG

This looks like it could be a useful thread - one publisher's recent experiences with pdfs.

My battle with floss continues

I'm really getting into flossing - with one of those tooth-brush holder things - and today I found out what happens if you floss over-vigourously.

All of a sudden I couldn't move the floss up and down. And when I looked in the mirror, the floss had lodged in the middle of my gum, you know: that pyramidy bit right in between 2 teeth? I tried everything - moving it left, moving it right. I couldn't figure out how to get the floss out. It was locked in there and causing me a lot of pain. So I decided to cut the floss with a pair of scissors.

Today I discovered it's easier than you'd think to find a pair of scissors when you're house-sitting in a place you don't know very well. Today I also discovered that cutting floss with scissors in the mirror is a lot harder than you'd think, because of a) leverage & b) the mirror inverting all of my movements, oh yeah & c) pain.

I'll keep you updated on any further floss-related developments.

[Comics] Scott Pilgrim

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
by Bryan Lee O'Malley

***** (out of 5)

Is a graphic novel that I rate as highly as Watchmen.
It is completely different.
It is teh awesome.

You can get it out from the library – once Jenni’s returned it – and you should. Get it out. And read it. Only don’t read the back cover. Don’t let anyone tell you what it’s about. I’m not going too. Just that it’s cool. And it plays exactly the sort of game with genre that I love.

[The Limit] Research rocks!

Just talked to Jenni’s brother-in-law, Jason, who’s a school teacher. He gave me lots of insights into how fights between students work in primary schools, plus a neat idea about how to personalize this scene I’m working*.

What’s cool is that this scene – which I originally thought would just be a pause in the story - is starting to emerge as a thematic representation of the script as a whole.

* Plus the inspiration to work on a drama series about a small primary school – which Lee’s suggesting I call Desperate Schoolkids.

A new online war correspondent

Kevin Sites is an American journalist employed by Yahoo News to examine world conflicts first-hand. His site is here, and the first conflict he's looking at is Somalia.

[Film] Making Serenity

Lots o'spoilers (implied) in this huuuuggge interview with Joss Whedon about the movie.

[The Limit] Restart

I’ve finished brainstorming solutions for A3 & gotten answers from Ray Van Beynen about specific AOS issues, like their procedures and language. Now I’m finally sitting down to rewrite the script – and for a while I was in a whole new realm of procrastination

Reluctant to finish the script – possibly daunted at the amount of work in front of me. Uncertain about whether I should only be roughing out solutions to all the scenes or fixing everything as I go.

The most important thing was to make a decision – maybe not to finish the whole thing (that seems too remote at the moment) but at least to complete work on this first act. So I went through the whole script & ABC’d the scenes - to see what required totally new scenes (A) , significant edits (B) or minor rewrites (C).

There are 90 sequences to edit. 42% of them are totally new A-scenes. Almost half of them are in Act 1 (80% of them are in either A1 or A3).

… Enough numbers. While knowing what’s going on hasn’t totally eliminated my fear, it’s given me a way forward. I just going to read the C-scenes. For B-scenes, I’ll brainstorm 20 ideas for each problem they present (to give me some options when I go through the full rewrite). A-scenes, though, need a full Stakes & Conflicts workup and then have to be Beat-by-Beaten out.

CBIP

I just finished The Analyst by John Katzenbach, one of those thrillers that's so readable & hooky that I develop an obsession about finishing.

Now I'm re-reading How to Get Things Done (David Allen).

24 4.4 & 4.5

4.4 (** ½ )

Well, that was ludicrous – Jack robbing a gas station? – but still tense, a weird mix that’s tilting towards implausibility.

Also, an evil character (Driscoll) was instantly sympathized by the reveal that she has a schizophrenic daughter – a little soap-opery but also creating a conflict between home & work (classic 24).

4.5 (** ½ )

The problem with this show is that it’s taught us to be suspicious of characters. Being suspicious of characters is not conducive to empathizing with their plight (I’m constantly looking for double levels to what they’re saying and also for evidence they’re traitors).

This ep was nothing special – but its cliffhanger set up a great start to next week: Jack has 10 minutes to rescue his girlfriend before the missiles hit the base.

How to Prepare for Disaster

AlphaGeek over at DailyKos has a 5 part series (very in-depth) on disaster preparedness. Who will join me in my apoca-fetish?

[RPG] The Dogs read the fine print

More Dogs last night. More sympathetic characters I enjoyed playing, more discussions about our own morality on the van ride home. Thanks to Mike for lending me this game.

Again, character generation took a wee while. I think it might be good to just devote a whole evening to that if I run Dogs again - give people a chance to feel comfortable with the setting and each other & to come up with solid ideas for their characters at their own pace - rather than me rushing them through it in order to get onto the next town.

The town in question was Livingstone Branch, a reasonably large community that finds itself in the middle of a war between two rival newspapers. Most fun moment of the night for me was the confrontation was Sister Marie, one of the publishers. Wayne thought that it would be a simple matter of lecturing Sister Marie and getting her to admit she was contributing to the problem. I decided Marie would never admit such a thing. It was a full-on social conflict that Celeste backed out of halfway through - in a move that I thought was awesome for her character - and it left Wayne realising he had no way to win unless he drew his gun on this woman. He wasn't prepared to so he had to abide.

Conflicts were less frequent in the session and (I think) more meaningful. We had 2 - maybe because there were more players or maybe because I took to heart the advice in the rules to either say yes or roll the dice. However, my new rule of thumb is that if the Dogs ever disagree, that's worth starting a conflict over.

Each of the Dogs has been loaded with enough issues that I can create at least one town for each of them that plays right to their concerns. Hope I get a chance to continue running this game.

[RPG] Dogs in the 'Verse

Warning – this post is extremely RPG-geeky and pretty much for my own reference.

I had another cool experience with Dogs in the Vineyard last night. I'll write that up later on, but in the meantime a lot of people have been figuring out how to convert Dogs to run a game set in the Firefly universe. Things start here with Dogs in the Black, especially Vincent’s message from here:

... the Firefly folks are all the time landing in a little town and pronouncing judgement upon its sins. The Train Job, Heart of Gold, Jaynestown, Safe, Shindig... right?

Ditch the Faith, that's easy. Instead of Dogs the PCs are space outlaws, no problem. For initiatory conflicts you can do conflicts about how they became part of the crew.

Then just do what they did on the show: everywhere they go, a) there's something there they need to accomplish; b) they know somebody; c) people want things from them; d) the things they want are all contradictory and problematic. You can easily use the game's town creation rules for that.

Dial the supernatural down to nothing, except for River, but still use the demonic influence, sorcery and possession rules. Like I say, demons and sorcerers are just bad luck and bastards. Every Western needs those

I predict that it'd be grimmer, tenser, and less flip than the show - on account of the game's pacing and escalation dynamics - but fundamentally similar.

That led to a sequel thread, Firefly in the Vineyard with some thoughts on character creation. Kitbashing & The Faith talks more about town creation,

With a comment from Vincent here about who the characters need to be

And Sydney’s follow-up thought about the same topic, in a different thread

[Film] Serenity

*** (out of 5)
(That's a provisional rating - to be revised after I watch it in better viewing conditions.)

First, to quote from Pearce ...

If anyone tries to tell you ANYTHING about the movie, stop at nothing to prevent them. Kill without hesitation if they persist. Let nothing stop you from seeing this movie without spoilers.

Bring your knowledge of the tv series and NOTHING else. Resist all urge to read up on it. This movie has real impact. Two words could spoil it all.

Right? This'll be spoiler-light, but still ...

Firefly - and now Serenity - loves its characters. As a result, the movie initially delivers an entertaining meandering mess of a story that gradually tightens up into a creepy, smart & funny SF actioner. It's a film that, I think, completely changes the nature of the story of Firefly.

I loved hanging out the cast again, seeing them pushed to extremes and hearing lines that were funny because of who was delivering them rather than the fact that they're funny. Plus I came away from the film sad at how much had been wrapped up. Given all that, I have no idea if it'll play for people who hadn't seen the TV show.

Structurally, like I said: it opens as a bit of a mess. Perhaps because of River's status for much of the first half of the film, at points the story seems like a collection of unmotivated set pieces. Until I read the shooting script, I found it hard to put the events together in my head. Now I see that instead of action it was grounding us in the characters - and the structure's odd breaks in momentum were due to having to keep its antagonist offscreen. From reading the script, it seems obvious that Whedon reintroduced the Operative as soon as he naturally could.

So instead Serenity spends its time introducing the big concepts of Reavers and River. It gives us a powerful new character that puts Firefly fans in the position of newbies - and then delivers plot developments I never thought you could ever possibly do to the crew and to us.

Oh yeah, and I was sitting right at the front of the theatre on the far left, so I can't make any comments about the visuals and staging of the big bang-bang sequences. I can however say with complete confidence that I got a headache. But Joss seems to be best at drawing out character and tension, not so much with the action. I'll rewatch the film when it comes out on general release to update that opinion.

But onto what's good ...

There's an intro that busts through four layers of reality, that gives us a real insight into River's fragmented mind.
Characters are incredibly well motivated and makes supersmart decisions.
There's a visit to a creepy planet.
The bond between Simon and River.
Kaylee's sex life.
Mal's attitude about how to be a captain.
And now it becomes clear that Zoe is kind of a metaphor for the frontier, while Inara represents the alliance.

Conclusion: I want to see a sequel, but one that focuses even further on the crew's life & relationships rather than some big external action plot.

I want the new Fly My Pretties CD right now!

But it's not out till November 15th. And yet, the show I just went to was so awesome, for so many reasons, that hopefully I'll be able to have it play in my memory till then.

Reasons for awesomness:
My bro was playing bass in it and he's a rock star.
I got to make monkey noises during a surf-rocking singalong.
They played my favourites, like Champion & Let's Roll & Lucky.
They played new stuff.

New stuff like Night of the Owl and Miracles and King of You All and Clarity and, and, let's just say we'll be singing along to these tracks too. And let's also say that Hollie Smith is going to be a frickin' superstar. A gentle mix of Jo Randerson, Anika Moa, Patti Smith, Aretha Franklin and The Clash. Watch out for her stuff.

All the songs created those moments for me where I felt suspended in the music. The rational brain shuts off and I'm just lost in the moment, travelling out into uncharted territory. I love that shit. It's like magic.

It's also great to hear Kiwi accents just thrust out there, front and centre, with no apologies - and to realise these songs are telling stories not just about us, but about me, about where I'm at right now. I love that shit too.

[Biz] Setting up for Business

There are a few final steps to before setting your business in motion ...

Factor in any student loan repayments.
Figure out depreciation on assets.
Figure out what can be deducted.
Quantify existing sales by customer.
Prepare a cash flow forecast.
Calculate when you will break even.
Write your business plan.
Decision: is your business plan convincing?

Now it's time to put everything into action.

Make a list of all your tax obligations.
Make sure you have accounted for Terminal tax and Provisional tax (on more than $2,500 profit).
For each business, create a transaction account and a tax account.
Call the IRD and inform them that you are setting up as a sole trader.
Alternatively, set up a company.
Register for GST if necessary.
Put yourself on the two-month return period for GST.
It are eligible, apply for an Enterprise Allowance Grant.

And then start running your business ...

Set up a cash book (either a hard copy or in Excel).
Create a monthly statement of financial performance (basically this is income minus expenses equals profit).
Start a petty cash book.
Set up a filing system for your records.
Established a routine for regular record keeping (I'd prefer to do it mid and at the end of the week).
If you make a profit, set aside 20% for tax purposes.
Backup your data.

And that's at least the spine of what you need to do.

[Biz] Getting the details for business

These next steps are all about finding out the specific information you need. Completely ignored in all this is product development.

Do you need any other team members (accountants, lawyers, employees)?
What are your short, medium and long-term goals (from your SWOT analysis)?

Conduct market research. Connecting with the market and seeing what the demand is are vital steps:
1) what products are around, in what price range?
2) who are your customers?
3) how can you build a relationship with them?
4) what sort of things are they buying?
5) what's the niche market?

List who your customers are.
Identify potential buyers.
Research other markets (via the Internet, trade magazines).
Build client relationships.
Brainstorm how you will market and promote your product.
Decide how you will follow-up with your customers.*
Do a competitor analysis.**
Talk to the Business Information Taxation Officers at the Inland Revenue about GST, PAYE and income-tax.***
Talk to Small Business Advisory Centres. See the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.
Decide on trading structure: sole trader, partnership or company.
Make sure you're physically able to deliver the work. That you are healthy enough.

The next list will be all about the final steps before you set up to start trading.

* Books that I own like Choose and Grow Your Business in 90 Days and The 10 Second Internet Manager have ideas for this step.
** See my Business Plan Workbook.
*** This information is available for free. Specifically I want to understand how drawings are accounted for.

[Biz] Preparing for Business

Here's a list of all the actions you could take to set up a business ...

List all the ways you can get income (your revenue streams).
Select one to focus on.
What do you need to get started? A location to work in? A location to sell from?*
Cost your Labour, Overheads & Materials.**
Price your work.
Do a SWOT analysis:
1) list your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
2) develop a contingency plan for dealing with your weaknesses and threats.
3) develop a strategic plan to take advantage of your strengths and opportunities.

* Note to Steve: See “The Business Plan Workbook”, page 13, for this checklist.

** This includes calling ACC, saying what you're doing, that it's part-time and getting an appropriate rate from them. You'll probably be covered initially by Cover Plus Extra ($355 inc GST).

[RPG] The Dogs ruin 1.5 lives

I ran Dogs in the Vineyard on Tuesday night for Celeste and Wayne. This is a game where you play preacher-cowboys in the Wild West who ride into town, root out the sin & pass judgment on the sinners. The tension and the challenges don't come from fighting or beating up monsters but from making moral judgments about difficult situations.

Character generation and the conflict resolution system took a while to get the hang off. It's a really nice Poker-based mechanic of raising and seeing that makes you ask two questions of every conflict: a) can I win? and b) what does this say about my character? Celeste described as the easiest system she's played with so far.

Wayne and Celeste were confronted with a superficially simple problem (a woman cheating on her husband). What's good about Dogs is that it gave every character involved in that situation extremely sympathetic motivations. I enjoyed making all 3 NPCs as sympathetic as possible and being upfront with Wayne & Celeste about what the NPCs wanted from the them.

Is it my fault that the husband, wife and lover all wanted completely incompatible things? :)

Fascinating to see the differences between Wayne and Celeste trying to figure out a solution. It was 'sort of black & white' vs. 'sort of nuanced'. Wayne's Dog wanted a clear cut solution; Celeste's s Dog wanted to understand the situation so that she could maximise everyone's happiness.

In the end, they annulled a marriage, Celeste's character ruined her uncle's life and neither player felt they'd improved the situation. And we all had a good time (I think!).

What I really liked about the game was that as a GM I felt deeply. This game is more about emotions and connecting with other players than anything I've played in the last couple of years, aside from Buffy.

[RPG] I've published another game

This is another entry into the Ronnies, based on the keywords 'Hatred' & 'Girlfriend'. I think it's pretty funny, actually. Hopefully I get a chance to play it soon.

It's called I Love to Hate to Love and you can find it here.

New Orleans - What went wrong

Newsweek's just done a 5 page article about how the Bush administration (mis)-managed the flow of information and failed to respond to the disaster. Some money quotes:

Bush's aides are SO afraid of telling him bad news that they practically drew straws to see who would have to tell him, on TUESDAY, that the hurricane was so bad he'd need to come home.

The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until the Thursday night AFTER it struck.

And another quote:

The denial and the frustration finally collided aboard Air Force One on Friday. As the president's plane sat on the tarmac at New Orleans airport, a confrontation occurred that was described by one participant as "as blunt as you can get without the Secret Service getting involved." Governor Blanco was there, along with various congressmen and senators and Mayor Nagin.

There's a precis of the article, here.

[TV] Is Veronica losing it?

1.12

Putting Veronica in jeopardy is a good idea, but the episode quickly turns into dumb fun. Great Lyn Echolls curveball at the end, though.

1.13

Veronica Mars is the exemplar of teen alienation. Most of her school clients are experiencing different aspects of the same thing, so she can relate to them.

The show seems to be losing its class commentary - which saddens me – focusing more on the OC, glamourous & TV friendly upper-class lifestyles.

However, Lynne Echolls is now a means of drawing Logan & Veronica closer together, the Yolanda disappearance is a means of demonstrating why Logan & Veronica fell out - and the storyline with Yolanda’s parents combines upper & lower classes.

Still, I missed Weevil.

1.12 ***

1.13 ***

Soon, some speculations about where Veronica Mars is heading

[Script] How to pitch - again

John Rogers over at Kung Fu Monkey is keeping his monkey's kung fu strong with an extensive post on pitching. Lots of interesting looking internal links, too.

[TV] 3 more eps of Veronica Mars

We’re entering into spoiler territory now, baby.

1.9

Best. Teaser. Ever.

Veronica figures out her family’s past & tracks down the guy who’s been following her all in the space of 5 intense minutes.

1.10

Delightful Christmas episode with a real “Who Killed Lily Kane” kick at the end.

1.11

The super-detective I speculated would show up, has shown up. I expect I’ll be watching a lot more VM over the next 2 days.

(What the hell, I’ll give ‘em all 5 stars. I like this show.)

[TV] Veronica Mars 1.8

(I’m loving Josh Kramon's musical score for this show)

Good ep, juggling lots of subplots. The crazy boarder, the purity test, a thawing of the Duncan-Veronica relationship. Good stuff.

And what a chilling, devastating finale in the interview with Koontz. We might as well call this episode, “Let’s destroy Veronica Mars”.

[How to: TV] Multiple Wants

I think I’ve already suggested that characters have Wants. Central objectives that define the reason they’re on the show. Watching Veronica Mars, I’ve become aware that the more Wants a character has, the more dimensions they have – because those Wants can be placed in opposition with each other.

For example, Veronica wants to be accepted, defend her dad, and find out who killed Lily Kane. What if two of those things turn out to be incompatible?

[Biz] Costing & Pricing

At its simplest, the price you charge for an item = (The amount you want to earn in a year DIVIDED by the number of hours you will work in a year) TIMES the number of hours it takes to produce one product / deliver one service.

That’s at its simplest.

The amount you want to earn in a year has several components. The two main ones are the cost of your labour (which is calculated on the personal expenses you want the business to pay for) and the cost of your overheads to run the business.

For example, if I want the business to pay me $30,000 peryhear and I’ll be working 1,314 hours in a year (due to holidays, weekends, downtime) then I need to charge $22.80 per hour for my labour (30K/1,314). One bit of advice: take that figure you want to earn and add 20% to it, to allow for tax.

Overheads work in the same way. If it costs me $5,000 a year to run my business then I need to charge $3.80 per hour to cover those (5K/1,314). And remember, overheads are the expenses that tick over each month regardless of whether you make a sale or not. IOW, they are going to cost you even before you make your first sale.

The cost of materials needs to get passed directly onto the consumer. Let’s say that’s $5.

The total cost of the product = Labour + Overheads + Materials. In the case above, that’s $31.60 an hour.

If you have extra revenue streams (part time jobs, other businesses) then you can reduce the amount you need to draw from the business (which changes the Break-Even Point). Accounting for those is the next step.

[TV] Veronica Mars 1.6

Harry Hamlin + parental abuse!
Uneasy spirits of murder victims!!
Electoral fraud!!!
Big developments in the Lily Kane case + the acknowledgement that solving the case probably won’t fix their lives!!!!
Wallace is starting to impress me!!!!!

I’m really enjoying this show. It has an assurance about it that makes me confident Rob Thomas isn’t just making this up as he goes along. A lot of the time it underplays its motivations and act breaks. And it’s create how relationships with fathers seem central: Logan-Aaron, Veronica-Keith, Duncan-Jake; Veronica Mars is really savvy in the way it compares and contrasts these 3.

New Orleans - Images & Future

This slideshow was taken by a photographer who stayed in New Orleans throughout the whole of the hurricane and flooding. It is amazing.

David Brin has some thoughts on the reconstruction process here & here.

[TV] Veronica Mars 1.4 & 1.5

1.4 was probably my favourite episode yet (I missed it on the first run). Not too much on the ‘Who Killed Lily Kane?’ front but a nice twist in the little case and those geeky bad guys really freaked me out. The big news though is Logan-Veronica – there’s subtleties in their relationship (that they are bonded by a love of Lily) that I had totally overlooked.

The opening credits make me nervous. Each character gets a little hand-drawn symbol next to them. Wallace has a dead body’s chalk outline – is he going to die? The journalism teacher has a car with a license plate – now she hasn’t played such a big role in the show up till now; is she going to be revealed as a big part of the Lily Kane case?

1.5 reveals that Veronica was being watched. So, immediately there are 2 HUGE bits of information – 1) her mum left because Veronica was in danger, and 2) there’s a better detective than Veronica out there somewhere.

Also, my favourite bit of this show is that because Dad & Daughter are both awesome PIs, they can’t keep secrets from each other – they have to assume the other one already knows whatever they’re trying to keep hidden.

1.4 *****
1.5 ****

[TV] Veronica Mars 1.2

***** (out of 5)

It’s like a second pilot – this time establishing key sets of relationships (Duncan-Veronica, Keith-Jake). And throwing in a huge curveball – that Lily was alive at least 2 hours after she was supposed to have died – which means no-one’s alibis hold up anymore.

[TV] Veronica Mars 1.1

***** (out of 5)

Boy, does this show know what it’s doing. Tone, set up in the first 10 minutes, is sadness and tragedy. The lead character’s been alienated from high school, cut by all her friends – but she’s battling on anyway. And there’s a great father-daughter relationship. Veronica Mars is a tough show with a touch of heart.

It’s cool rewatching the pilot and seeing how the timeline (and even the clues to the overall mystery) fits together.

4 big sub-plots to keep track of:
1. Who killed Lily Kane?
2. Who raped Veronica Mars?
3. What happened to Veronica’s mum?
4. Why did Duncan Kane drop Veronica?

[Biz] How to Start a Business

This is where I’ll be compiling my business course notes over the next couple of weeks. General impression: it’s easy to start your own business, provided you’re comfortable with a couple of simple business ideas.

First up, I’ll be talking about how to cost your labour and price your product – which gives you a yearly and hourly figure to earn. Then, as an example, I’ll think about the revenue streams I could use to earn that figure.

That leads naturally into cashflow forecasting (how much money you expect to make in the next year) – which pairs nicely with running a cashbook. And, after all that, tax.

CBIP

Back to The House of Doctor Dee after a dalliance with Dogs in the Vineyard by Vincent Baker – a GREAT roleplaying game that I can’t wait to play on Tuesday.

[TV] 24 4.3

*** (out of 5)

Still maintaining its OK-ness, with a great 24 moment centred around Jack & his sniper rifle.

Love: how the characterisations remain strong and consistent.
Like: how they’ve engineered Chloe so that she’s a source of conflict all the time (due to her personality disorder) but even so she’s fundamentally an ally. Chloe is a really useful dramatic tool (for providing exposition and ‘I will help you’ scenes).
Dislike: how the show’s starting to stretch my credulity even now. Jack holding up a gas station? My 3 star rating is extremely generous.
Hate: how, even though I tried to remain spoiler-free, I have a pretty clear idea of the main plot points in this season. Damn you, TV Gal and the Journal of Atomic Science!

[Tech] Scary Sh!t

If you own a colour printer, you must read this column by Annalee Newitz (my secret geek-tech crush). Here's a money quote to pique yer interest:

For years, governments all over the world have secretly been collaborating with the high-end color laser printer industry in order to track the origin of every color copy made. They're doing it by programming the printers to create specific patterns of yellow dots -- not visible to the naked eye -- on every copy. These dot patterns are codes for the serial number, the make of the printer, and possibly even the time and date when the print was made. By cross-checking this information with printer company databases of people who have purchased the printers, federal agents can figure out who made a given color copy (of, say, an antiwar rally flyer) and when.

No, really.

[TV] 24 4.1 & 4.2

A pretty stale opening sequence followed by a deft setting-up of the situation and the new characters. Hour One ended with the awesome build, build, building of tension culminating in a cool action climax.

Hour Two was a little more ‘meh’. Possibly could’ve benefited from an in media res opening in the previous hour’s climax. I mean, imagine if Ep 1 had ended just as the stinger screamed into shot and blew up the limo!

However, the show kept illustrating the basic lesson I first learned from it: that scenes really rock when there are 2 people in clear conflict. Check it out sometime; 24 will nearly always motivate characters in a scene in such a way that they end up at loggerheads – and out of that conflict is generated new story complications.

I’m liking that 24 is trying to deepen its portrayal of terrorism and its causes, humanising the terrorists and presenting two viewpoints (a liberal son & a worldwide internet trial) of America as a contributing cause of the world’s problems. Pretty ballsy stuff for a bubble-gum action thriller.

Very glad Hour 3 is on tonight … after the increasingly embettering Veronica Mars.

4.1 **** ½ (out of 5)
4.2 ***

[RPG] All Growed Up

For those of you who didn't see in the comments, my game All Growed Up is available to download (for free!).

All Growed Up is a game about teenagers in suburbia - how they hate their lives, how they cope and what happens to them after they grow up.

These teenagers have 3 ways to express that hatred: by rebelling, by pretending it doesn’t exist, or by turning it on themselves. Your job as a player is to try and keep the 3 in balance – and to share your personal experiences with the other players.

The story in All Growed Up goes from when a group of friends in a suburb all turn 13 till the end of their 19th year. Basically, from entering high school to moving out from under your parents’ control and starting to figure out life on your own.

Enough spiel. It's a first first draft, written in 4 hours and I've already had ideas to improve it. That'll have to wait until after The Limit and The Lucky Joneses are finished. I might talk about the design process sometime though.

[RPG] Does the system matter?

Let’s talk about the Star Wars game I’m playing in, ‘cos I think it’s illustrating a fundamental point about people and role-playing games.

Gino called me up last night and said he felt the particular game we're using was getting in the way of the story he wanted to tell. Specifically he compared the d20 system we’re using to a game we played a couple of months ago, My Life with Master and said MLwM was … what? Less cumbersome? Easier to cut to the chase? Anyway, my words – I’m paraphrasing.

Now I’m also damn sure Jenni is not playing a Jedi that’s as cool as the one in her head – not because you can’t have one in d20 Star Wars but because it takes a bit of experience with the system to figure out how to build a super-cool Jedi. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Celeste go, “Huh?” at all the numbers – many of them completely irrelevant to us – all the numbers on her character sheet. And several times our party’s been saved by Wayne – who’s work in this story is really impressing me – and his knowledge with the rules.

The story Gino’s telling – which is extremely intense – is cool. What’s up is that the system is getting in the way of telling it.

The point: System does matter.

So what's the next step?

I think it's to figure out what you like, what you want from a role-playing game. Then find a role-playing game that helps you deliver the experience you want without much effort. There’s a lot of them out there (and a lot being built right now) that cater to specific preferences.

That’s a big part of why I’m trying so many role-playing games with our group. When I decide on a story to tell, I can pull out an appropriate system – one that won’t get in my way.

[RPG] Just entered

my 24 RPG - based on the keywords 'Hatred' & 'Suburb'. I'll let you know when it's up. Now to sleep, try and shake this horrible cold and keep doing the business course. Light blogging till the end of the week.

CBIP

The House of Doctor Dee, by Peter Ackroyd.

Creepy, London, dense - but short.

The Spit Children is on hiatus, The Demon Profession was an eye-opening insider's guide to the National government in the 80s & 90s, what being an MP involves and Winston Peters.

[RPG] 24 Hour RPG Contest

Now, apparently you can do this at any stage over at 1KM1KT - But Ron Edwards is sponsoring a specific award from now till Sep 24th, with possible prize money and guaranteed feedback. Ask Ron questions, here.

CBIP

The Spit Children, by Jo Randerson vs. Sorcerer by Ron Edwards.

Bush downgraded to Category 4 President; leaves devastated Louisana area

The photo op.

Stopping food from getting through.

[How to: TV] Relationship questions

The next step up from understanding a character is to understand the relationship between a pair of characters. I’m just starting to think about the sort of questions I should ask in order to explore how a particular relationship works. Questions like:

Who has the power? Who’s dominant? Is there an official hierarchy? How do they make decisions?

Do they have a secret that they both keep (together)? What secrets do they keep from each other?

How’d they first meet?

OT: I’m furious about the situation in New Orleans. Example.

[How to: TV] In the Wild

Although I’ve read lots about brainstorming, I haven’t actually done much of it in the wild. It’s definitely a skill that needs practice.

Brainstorming’s awesome for coming up with riffs on a basic situation, for wild ideas, and tangents. With a little bit of direction, it’s also good for generating lots of possible solutions to specific areas, issues, problems.

I’ve also noticed two things – one personal, one systemic – that are worth watching out for …

The personal is that it’s easy for me to get distracted by my opinion of where the discussion *should* be going. That’s not useful – it means I’m out of sync with others (so my ideas don’t feel right). Better to stay in the moment and be mindful. Focus on what people are saying.

The point: Listen.

The systemic – and I’ll need to participate in a lot more brainstorms to confirm this is actually a real phenomenon – is that I’ve noticed a tendency to lock down an implied ‘best version’ of the idea early on. This seems to come naturally out of the group reinforcing ideas we like – and therefore encouraging further contributions that riff off of that.

So, contributions are adopted and elaborated on because they’re congruent with an emerging paradigm. This happens non-verbally and it’s based on enthusiasm …

… and it’s not a big deal. Take last night for instance. When we started, I felt like what we were brainstorming was too close to an existing TV series. Well, … we still got awesome stuff out of it.

And even if the group locks down a particular approach, after you’ve followed it through you can always bring the idea back. This time though, you can push the already explored approach to one side and spitball different ways to break into a new paradigm.

[The Limit] Calm down

Day off to deal with stress. Calming down now and focusing on the next few steps:

1. Roughly placing all of Act 2’s new scenes. Simple.
2. Redesigning Act 3 so that it has a solid emotional flow. Big.
3. Looking through the flowchart of the whole movie. Simplish.
4. Writing out Stakes & Conflicts for all scenes in Act 1 & 2. Biggish.

[And note to self: when making a Whammo Chart, either use a hard copy or a .doc I don’t make notes on. At the moment my chart doesn’t correlate to the script’s page numbers.]

CBIP

The Demon Profession, by Michael Laws.

Katrina - aftermath

This guy is live blogging from New Orleans, 10 stories up in a skyscraper. It's like a frickin' John Whydham disaster novel out there.

MyDD talks about some of the implications here. Plus, they've had to shut down 10 airports in the US, and some oil rigs have gone missing.