Maehadros

Maehadros was the first DnD character I created, and I built him with what I thought was a relatively interesting backstory. He was a human fighter, probably the most generic option I could have built mechanically.

Backstory: Maehadros was the son of a nobleman in one of the city-states of a particular unnamed continent. His father wanted him to apprentice to become a cleric, but Maehadros rebelled and ran off to a different city-state, and enlisted in the city guard there. Eventually the city he was working for came into conflict with his hometown, and Maehadros deserted the town guard. He found work as a mercenary, and was hired by what turned out to be a pro-human organization. While he didn't agree with their pro-human sentiments, he considered it a job, and helped them anyway. Eventually he became aware that they were a fairly radical cult, but continued to work for them until they gave him orders to kill the children of some local dwarves they had lynched. He then abandoned his job and fled on a ship away from the continent to avoid repercussions with the cult. This is how he wound up on the ship with the other Player Characters.

Character traits: The essence of Maehadros, or Mae, as he is generally known, is that he is a good person at heart, but lacks the courage to follow his heart. Instead he follows orders over his own judgement. By this point in his life, he is fully aware of the painful repercussions of not standing up for what he believes in, but has not implemented that in his life. Instead, he still follows the moral judgement of his new commanding officer (Tucker's warlord). His opinions mostly go in his journal, as always.

Other traits of the character include a town-guard sense of ethics, rather than the sense of an adventurer. He would rather bring his defeated foes to justice than to kill them, even if (as pointed out by other characters) bringing them to justice would doubtlessly lead to their execution. Again, he looks to authority other than his own, rather than making judgments on the lives of the defeated.

Character growth: Maehadros never had much opportunity to act upon his beliefs, partly due to me, the player, being pressured into not... complicating things. The party goes places, it kills things, it gets experience and loot, and I apparently wasn't supposed to call into question the ethics of all the things we were doing, let alone rebel against the judgement of the other players. Maehadros himself suffered a good deal of bullying by other players, mostly in terms of who was leading the party in the absence of Tucker and his character. (I was also somewhat disappointed to find that most of the party was neutral, and the paladin was of the "I'm a paladin, this gives me justification to kill things," style.) This was all cut short by Mae's untimely death.

Analysis: Maehadros deals with a lot of questions I have concerning righteous action, authority, and the subjectivity of morality, I suppose? And of social pressures? Dunno.

Dnd Characters - what does this say about me?

A good deal of people think that when a writer creates a character, they invest something of themselves into the character. What's more, some people think that characters allow writers to explore internal questions that they don't know how to tackle directly.

I guess the plots of various books I have been interested in writing fall along a strangely similar line, save that the questions explored are outward, and not internal questions.

But what about my DnD characters? This will probably be a series of posts, one for each character.

I'll be starting in chronological order: Maehadros, Selar and her sister, Mikalo, and now Little.

Thoughts on Media and 9/11

One of my classes is Terrorism and the Press. We were talking about the 9/11 attacks today (WTC towers, Pentagon, and another airplane crash), and i was reminded how terrorism chose the timing of the 9/11 attacks.

See, they wanted symbolic targets - the Pentagon, and the WTC towers count, as does Washington DC (the probable target of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania). But they weren't seeking to kill people, directly. In fact, they chose the time of attack with the greatest proportion of symbolic damage to the amount of deaths: The early morning.

See, both the pentagon and the WTC weren't exactly filled up, as they would have been a mere 3 or 4 hours later. The later in the day, the higher the casualties.

So why not do it at night, when people wouldn't be killed? After all, if you want a lower death count, then that would be best.

That's where media impact and the message that they were trying to send comes in. If you attacked when it was dark, then none of those powerful, scarring images of the WTC towers burning would have been able to be seen. Al-Quada didn't know the towers would fall (Osama was the most optimistic in positing that the tops might fall off), so the lasting damage would be limited to nasty, fire-gutted holes in the tops of the towers.

So daylight so that the American people can see what they did, and yet morning to avoid unnecessary deaths.

Diarrhea

Somewhat disgusting, as might be guessed by the title:

I find myself morbidly amused by the splatter patterns in the toilet bowls.

That's all.

Fluxx

[[Edit: This has been done before, unsuprisingly.]]

Hey, couldn't we make a game of super-fluxx with some note-cards?

Pure Fluxx

Players: Three+

Materials: A lot of identical note-cards.

Rules: At the beginning of each turn, the active player draws a card or writes up a card.

(Writing a card has to be approved by at the majority of other players, and puts it into their hand. Each card describe or adds some part of the game.

If the rule contradicts existing rules, the rules conflicted with are put into the discard pile.

A rule can change any part of the game.

If the application of the rules is disputed, they are voted upon by the players, majority interpretation wins.

If the rule allows one or more players to win, then all players must agree upon it.

If parts of the original rules are broken, the broken parts are written on a card and discarded.)

The active player may then play the card from his or her hand.

----

Starting terms:

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Zones: Pre-defined areas where cards can exist. Individual and universal

Hand: A zone for each player. Any card in a hand is naturally only viewed by the player. The starting rules also have the active player play a card from his hand. Cards are "in hand"

Active: These are the rules, objects, etc., that are in play, and affect all players equally. They are placed in the middle between the players, and can be seen by all players. Cards are "active".

Control: These are the cards that, while active, have special effects relative to their "controller." While on the table and visible to all, they are put directly in front of a player. Cards are "under the control of [player name]"

Library: These are the cards that are hidden from all players in a face-down pile of cards somewhere reachable on the table. The committing the action "Draw a card" refers to putting the top card of the library into your hand without revealing it to everyone else. If someone tries to draw a card when the library is empty, the Recycle Bin is shuffled, and turned into the library. If the recycle bin is also empty, then the player writes up a new card instead.

Recycle bin: These are the cards that have been contradicted by other cards, or otherwise inactive. They are piled face-up, revealed to all players, somewhere not to be confused with the active cards.

--

Card types: These are different sorts of cards, and are handled differently, mechanically. Main types and sub-types.

Static: Maintype. Rules, and other cards that stay in play.

One-time: Maintype. Cards that have an effect, then leave play.

Responsive: Static or one-time cards that may be played whenever the conditions on them are true.

Goal: Cards that allow a player or players to win. Must be approved by all players when written.

--

Actions: Terms that cause a player to do something.

Play: Do what is written on the card being played. Short for a longer action.

Discard: Put the card being discarded into the discard pile.

----

Suggestions: Have fun, don't be a dick, have a meaningful game, use your rules to fix the game. And remember that games are to have fun.

The Prefect

Just finished reading The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds.

This is the third book of his that I have read, the previous two having been Galactic North and Chasm City. Both of those were great, so I decided to pick up another before heading off to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Similar to the other two books, the plot is convoluted and suspenseful, making full utilization of the hard-he-can-manage sci-fi concepts existing in Alastair's world. The Prefect is interesting, exciting, and somewhat gut-wrenching at times (I'm looking at you, Jane).

The Prefect is also escapes on of the most common problems with science fiction: Explaining things. (Fantasy can have this problem if the writer feels like it.)

You see, most characters who grew up in a world generally manage to have it make sense to them. Since we don't live in that world, things don't make sense to us. Therefore, some authors feel they should explain everything. This can be explaining everything, be Explaining Everything, or be EXPLAINING EVERYTHING. However, taking time to explain things causes problem for any sort of narrative: Short essays embedded in the story cause problems.

On the other side, hand-waving everything would really just be fantasy, not science-fiction.

Reynold tends towards giving a name and maybe a short summary, but then having his explanation only exist in what's relevant to the characters, what the characters think about, and what happens.

He also manages to steer clear of anything that expressedly violates the laws of physics, or at least only violate them on a scale that the technology of the setting would be able to reasonably circumvent them. Additionally, and just as important, everything has a relatively sensible and utilitarian design.

Which brings me to the setting. Alastair uses a single setting--Revelation Space--for his novels, and it is pretty darn complex. It's future history, starting in the foreseeable future (far enough to avoid science marching on, and continuing through the imaginable future to the end of the future (Stinking Greenfly...). Unlike the previous two books I read, The Prefect is set in the height of human civilization, on the hub of human civilization, on the orbital habitats utilized by the elite of society. This means that things get very, very exotic, especially due to the freedom loving nature of demarchist rule. Very interesting things are encounters.

I think I'm degressing.

The plot is complicated, but strong, and I approve. The characters are varied and interesting, and I approve*. The setting is gorgeous and well-thought, and I approve.

Really, I approve of the book all around. Very good for those folks who like sci-fi novels that avoid sacrificing being a novel for being sci-fi. Still good for everyone else.

*: The titular Prefect, Tom Dreyfus** is a bit of a canon sue. He is, as referenced by the characters in the story, pretty much the perfect Prefect. Not perfect in always victorious, or hopelessly overpowered, but perfect in a flawless-action sort of way. They do what they can while they can. However, I managed to completely overlook this until some stuff in the story went horribly wrong for the protagonists, and I saw the other characters taking the lead and messing up. When things got better (this is a highly relative term), I was too filled with satisfaction to care.

**: I could help but notice the last name from my historical knowledge. Seems unlikely that he would wind up with the same name. Demerits for contrived naming. On the other hand, it works well.

Empowered

I recently had the opportunity to read Empowered, which was not only surprisingly good, but better than I thought (I had heard good things about it). What I expected was, as TvTropes puts it, a "graphic novel series starring a Damsel in Distress-prone heroine named 'Empowered.' Contains heavy deconstruction of the Super Hero genre, with healthy doses of bondage, Fanservice, and comedy."

What I found was... well pretty much what the above says. The fanservice was a bit too pronounced for my taste, and Emp getting trussed up a lot early on wasn't all that sexy because... well, onto the unexpected.

The characters are great. While they all run off of assorted superhero sterotypes, all of them have unique, interesting, strong personalities. Some of them I sympathize with, and root for (Empowered, Ninjette, etc.). Some of them I look up to in awe and admiration (Mindf**k, Maid Man, etc.). Some of them I want to club with a hammer... repeatedly (Captain Havok, most of the jerkass supers, and sometimes Sista Spooky). One of them is terrifying and wrong and scary (and doesn't play by the rules).

This is why Emp getting tied up isn't all that sexy. She might be an idealistically beautiful woman wearing (well-placed) tatters of a skin-adhering body-suit, but it's hard to enjoy the fanservicey nature of her predicament when you care for Emp so much. Thus stripperific bondage =/= sexy. Instead stripperific bondage = feeling sorry for Emp. She's far too sympathetic and complex a character to objectify. Well, I'd rather not objectify her, anyway.

Anyway, concerning the characters, it is important to note that they are not one-sided. Aside from Captain Havok, who enjoys my vehement and eternal contempt, most of the other nasty characters have their own internal problems, and are just expressing them worse than the nicer characters, with their own emotional problems flaws. I can only think of a few characters who are simple, but I would not complain about their purity of essence (Go Maid Man!). Even the minions are hard to objectify.

Which brings me to the next point - the story of the novels doesn't really pertain that much to the actual action. Instead, most of the story deals with characters' feelings. Think Neon Genesis Evangelion, but without the constantly feeling horrible bit. Often the battles are skipped, with Empowered assumably losing and getting captured, and instead there is the emotional abuse from other characters, interaction with and responses from friends, etc.

With that in mind, the story is really about Empowered's personal growth... and boy is there a lot of it. Empowered starts out with freshly shattered dreams to go with a shattered self-esteem, and from there she struggles upwards, with the help of her friends. This is all managed well, with an exception to be noted later.

Empowered also has heavy, heavy Cerebus Syndrome. The first three volumes are fairly comedic, but then the fourth one has heavy drama, and by the end of the fifth one I was outright crying. A well-done romance has something to do with that.

Empowered also gets better. If I had just read the first volume, I would have thought Empowered was pretty decent for what it does, and leave it at that. Fortunately, I had a healthy list of recommendation, and I pushed onward. By the second volume, I was starting to enjoy the tale, and by the third I approved heartily. But the fourth and fifth volumes are why I'm spieling about it. I don't go and write here about just any little comic, you know.

Other things to note:

Mindf**k and Maid Man are new role models for me. Mindf**k gets to hang out with Nausicaa and other characters who influenced my development. Maid Man is an all around good guy.

The setting is fairly interesting, in and of itself. There are Unwritten Rules to behavior, so nothing truly bad happens to Empowered (breaking the unwritten rules by, say, unnecessarily sexually molesting Emp would bring down the wrath of every superhero, which is a decent deterent same with killing her.). The whole way the world is adjusted to the existence of superheroes is rather interesting. A lot of characters, especially the unpowered ones and minions have interesting takes on the superheros and villains. There are a lot of little tidbits about how the world works, that are quite interesting. Emp finds out that all three superheros she is working with all became superheros after contracting super-natural STDs - she finds this coincidence weird, and then finds out that they first met at a super-natural STD support group. Some of the characters previously posed as Witless Minions, manipulating the system to steal their employer's valuables and blame it on the heroes.

Also interesting is the effect when certain characters break the Unwritten Rules. It's... impressive. And horrific.

I do have issue with a few things, though. Emp's boyfriend is perhaps not the best role model for building self-esteem. While he's a fine guy otherwise, in terms of boyfriendness... he deals with Emp's low self-esteem in a (fanservice-y) way I do not approve of (I'm much more part of the Mindf**k school of romance). Also related is his unrealistic sex with Emp - he apparently follows the hentai school of sex. I suppose part of this is that I gave up on the pornographic aspect of the series, and consequently find the carefully-placed speech bubbles more amusing.

Going on from there, I love the Caged Demonwolf's imagined rendition of Emp's sex with her boyfriend. Which one of the other characters uses for smut, apparently. Heck, the fact that Emp still reads yaoi superhero slash fanfiction (occasionally even starring her teammates) amuses me to no end.

Also, both Emp and her boyfriend are ridiculously/idealistically physically attractive. While the power of body-image issues are profound, I always find Emp's problems a bit strange. That said, they do live in a world where nearly everyone manages a ideal body-shape, with few exceptions, so I suppose it's not that strange? Dunno. I understand why Emp is a Hot Blonde, comercially speaking, and I can see Spookum's problem with her.

Anyway, it is a good series, assuming you are okay with everything-short-of-nudity and occasional objectifying shots. There's good content there. I recommend it.