Answering Questions: What Keeps You Motivated - Mark Van Vlack

What keeps you motivated to do the things you do for your blog?

You put a good deal of work into this blog, sometimes not so fun tedious work and yet you always seem to have two or three large projects going. Whut up wit dat? Reason for asking: I am far less ambitious on my blog and even I burn out every three or four months. What stokes the furnace that is Charles? - +Mark Van Vlack

What keeps me motivated is that I set goals for my blog and push myself to get there. When I first started I just wanted to get 1 person to read me which I thought would never happen; and then +Jens D. found me (god bless him) and started commenting on my blog. So I made a new goal that I would get 25 people to follow my blog. Then 50, then 100. Each time I achieve a goal I make a new one. I'm incredibly goal oriented so doing that is a big motivator for me. Right now my goal is to get the blog up to 2,000 page views a day (I'm currently hovering right at 1,250 page views every day for the last couple of weeks).

As for the tedious stuff, like publishing my blog statistics and reading everyone for the Best Reads Series, if it wasn't fun I wouldn't do it. I like looking into things, investigating, and reading what other people are doing. It keeps my mind sharp and gets me to rethinking my own ways. Now as for things like fixing the banner and tweaking the layout I'm just never satisfied and I can't stand to have my name attached to things that I don't find up to a level I want representing me. 

 

Oh, and large projects are just fun - especially when you're doing them with other people that you really like and respect. 

Did that answer you question Holmes?

Answering Questions: The Hugos - Multiple

Why don't you support my side of the Hugo controversy - multiple. 

I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but while I like reading about the Hugo controversy and doing things like making a complete list of all the Hugo Award Winning Novels, I don't really give a damn about the controversy itself. To me it's no different than any other award show that allows anyone with enough money to vote. In other words it has no meaningful impact on my life. 

The Sad Puppies voting block has made their presence known. If you don't like it vote No Award or organize your own voting block for next year to make sure your favorite authors are on the list. That's about as much of an opinion as I have about it. 

Oh, and I hope +Jeffro Johnson wins in his category. I like him.

Answering Questions: Where's Project X Sitting? - Multiple

I got a lot of questions about the various projects that I'm working on right now. Most of them were either about the Americas Campaign, Artisan Toolkits, or Let's Forget the World and Be Friends. So I thought I would just cover all the ones I got asked about right here.

Star Cairns: This project has gone into limbo because I got bored with it and wanted to wait until Fifth Edition came out. Well, Fifth Edition is here and I'm still not feeling all that excited about this project. I've still got the file on my computer (which I managed to save from being deleted during the computer reset) and I work on it from time to time. It's just a long time in-between periods when I feel like opening it up. 

We Used to Go On Grand Adventures: This short story started out as probably the best thing I've ever written. It certainly is one of the things that I'm most proud of on the blog. The first two parts seemed to just explode out of me, but part three has been coming out like molasses. I've got the draft in Blogger, it's just no where near ready to launch. 

Americas Campaign: Still working on this project but getting the map done has proven to be a real pain in the ass. My son keeps drawing on them when I'm not looking - which is always a problem with two year olds. I'm currently working on a post about Horses in the Americas.

Let's Forget the World and Be Friends: This project is currently going on in the background. It's got more authors than ever before and I think you'll all love what we're working on. Should be out late June /  early July if everything works out.

Answering Questions: Political Leanings - Multiple

I'd be curious to know more about your politics, though, Charles. I've always assumed that you were kind of a liberal guy, but the closest I see to some of these viewpoints comes across from some of my (many) conservative friends. I'm not judging. I have friends from both sides of the spectrum. I'm just curious where you fall. - +Dan Head*

A joke among my friends is that I'm the most liberal person any of them know. Personally I think of myself as financially conservative and socially liberal. Which means that I believe that we should do things like recognize gay marriage, provide medical coverage for everyone, fund the arts, invest heavily in education, and the like - BUT if we do anything that costs money we have to find a way to pay for it. There are no blank checks being written.

If you'd like to talk about any specific issues let me know and we can discuss them. I'm generally good with talking about most anything.

* Dan actually asked his question before the Q&A call went out but due to the large number of people who asked me about this I decided to use his version as it came first. I hope Dan doesn't mind.

Answering Questions: A Strange Thing Happened This Time

I love doing these Dyvers Q&As because you never know how many you're going to get or who's going to ask you a question. But this time a couple of really interesting things happened. First I got almost all of my questions through e-mail (a complete reversal to how things normally go) and a lot of people asked the same questions with slight variations. So I'm going to just combine their questions into a single post using the person who asked first for the wording of the question.

While I got twenty-five questions they combined down to four so you're not going to see the sheer volume of responses that I've done in the past. Hope everyone who asked a question is cool with this change. 

Now, on with the questions!

An Overwhelming Sense of Dread

Dear Dyvers,

What's been going on with your blog? You've gone from posting almost every single day to days on end without a new post? WTF?

Anonymous Mouse

I've been working on a project that I should have been preparing for all year but completely forgot to do because it always seems like there's more time than there actually is. I'm currently doing my best to get though everything before December 1 so that I can reveal the project on that date. So far it's looking like I'm not going to make that self-imposed deadline (because I'm doing too god damned much).

Points if you've figured out the project by the way. None for silence or incorrect guesses.

Is It Still Gay If We're Wearing Armor?

from the Travels of Jacqui and Lars

Yo Dyvers! 

 

I play this Dwarf fighter named Gilnor Axebreaker and I'm always buy stuff for other players when they've not got the cash. Drinks, meals - they're on me! But these cheap bastards always want to crowd into my room when we hit the inn!!1! How do I tell them to back off?

Thanks

The easiest approach to this problem is to just look at the other players and tell them to get their own rooms. Clearly that's not what you want to hear or you wouldn't be writing to me. No, you want some way to make them suffer for being presumptuous enough to jump into your bungalow without so much as a "By your leave." So here's some ways to make those lousy sons of bitches pay for crowding your style and messing with your ability to get those imaginary ladies into your bed. 

The Wine and the Queen

In order to run this tack you'll have to pick wild mushrooms on your way back to town. My preferred way of doing this is through notes to the Dungeon Master. I usually ask for mushrooms with red caps and white dots or brown caps as these tend to be highly toxic. After finding them I always make a confirmation with the Dungeon Master that these mushrooms are dangerous. Nine times out of ten the Dungeon Master doesn't even make me roll.

Right, so this works best when you make it in to the inn early in the day. You're friends are going to start heading out into town buying bullshit healing potions and hookers. You on the other hand are going to head to the kitchen and reduce those mushrooms down to a syrup. Once you have that syrup it's time to buy a bottle of wine. How much you add to their wine is up to you, but the more you add the more likely it is you move from teaching them a lesson to killing them.

Your call. 

Twenty's a Crowd

Like this, only with chicks - or not. I won't judge.

So they're crowding into your room expecting a great night's sleep on your dime? Well fuck that noise. Instead you're going to start throwing your money around the bar. Buy drinks for everybody and raise hell like you never did in college but you always saw people doing in those movies where only rich white kids went to school. Drop tips to your waitresses that make the Dungeon Master shake his head and when everyone else starts heading to bed take the whole god damned party up to your room. 

Do that for a week and no one will ever want to room with you again.

Scattered Ashes

For this one you wait until the rest of the part is asleep. Once they're out you get up and head down to the bar. Grab a couple bottles of whiskey and pour them on your room door. Lite it on fire and walk away. 

Fuck yeah, Burning Man

If anyone lives through the experience look them dead in the eye and say, "I sleep alone mother fucker."

Answering Questions: Mike Monaco Set 2 (4 of 4)

Owlbears...whaddaya think? -- Mike Monaco

I think that Owlbears are some of the most under utilized monsters in the book. They're these huge predators the exemplify the worst possible after effects of having a wizard experimenting near your home and people throw them out like they were a punchline to some stupid joke. 

I've seen groups that treat them like they were goblins, barely worth fighting, let alone worth worrying about and I always want to run that encounter. I want to remind them why an Owlbear isn't a joke. I want them to have nightmares about that one time they ran into an Owlbear ten years back. I want them to get quite when the subject is brought up at the table and I want it to kill the conversation. I want grown men to walk away from the table and refuse to talk about them for fear that they might bring one about just by mentioning them too loudly.

There are monsters in this hobby that we should be ashamed of and shake our heads at the very mention of their names; but not the god damned owlbear. That one should be a triumph for this hobby and a warning sign for all new players: Here be owlbears, run in fear. 

Answering Questions: Mike Monaco Set 2 (3 of 4)

I've never seen you post anything about minis. Explain. - Mike Monaco

Other than the pre-painted minis that Wizards used to produce I've never owned any miniatures. In all honesty I've never really had an opportunity to own any as getting to a gaming store has always been an hour long trip (in some cases even more) so miniatures were always a low priority as I had to concentrate on the things that I needed like gaming books.

Lately though I've really started warming up to the idea of painting my own minis and have been trying to find a good introductory set to start with. I'm thinking about buying one of the Warhammer sets because you get a lot of figures to screw around with, but they're expensive. I don't know, what would you suggest for a new miniature painter to experiment with?

Answering Questions: Mike Monaco Set 2 (2 of 4)

What are reading these days? Are you on Goodreads? -- Mike Monaco

Gaming wise I've been reading the Rifts Ultimate Edition and Burning Wheel Fantasy Roleplaying System books lately. Rifts is a bitch of a system but the fluff more than makes up for it. Non-gaming wise I'm reading Tek Power by William Shatner, Playing at the World by Jon Peterson, and Leviathans of Jupiter by Ben Bova (which I started last night).

I've never heard of Goodreads before your question. What is it?

Answering Questions: Mike Monaco Set 2 (1 of 4)

What's the deal with your portrait icon? -- Mike Monaco

Ursinal by Matthew Mitchell

I absolutely love this silly picture that Matthew Mitchell was forced to create for the Third Edition Book of Exalted Deeds. It's a frivolous creature called an Ursinal, which is essentially an anthropomorphic bear who concerns himself more with the pursuit of knowledge than anything any bear I've ever encountered would care to be associated with doing. Anyway I ran across it back when I was doing these in-depth reviews of the Book of Exalted Deeds and the Book of Vile Darkness and just fell in love with that picture. For some reason it just makes me laugh and I've kept it ever since.

I'm working on something different right now but it's slow going with my son hopping up into my lap and helping me every time I get started. Frustrating, but I really like his help all the same.

Answering Questions: Tedankhamen

Should I stay or should I go? -- Tedankhamen

You're always welcome to stay here but I think you'll get bored eventually as I live in a landlocked state, and that's no fun for a man who's seen the ocean. Life seems to stand still at the edge of the ocean and the troubles of life fall to the wayside, into the nothing they always were.

That said if we were talking about the Clash they should have stayed and made another twelve albums of awesome music.

Answering Questions: Nikola Smoljanovic

What are in your opinion 3 steps to fun roleplay? Or more fun if you prefer. 

-- +Nikola Smoljanović

1. Never limit yourself to what is logical and reasonable: people in your actual life don't do that so why should you?

2. Be quick: try and think ahead and be as flexible as possible, because you never know when the guy next to you is going to drop the building down on himself to take out the dragon.

3. Don't be afraid to be the hero of your own story: It's easy to forget that the game is about being great; embrace that and push it to the limits. 

Answering Questions: Barking Alien (2 of 2) "Where all the RPGs?"

I like this blog of yours a lot but it's one of those gaming blogs that doesn't seem to have a lot of gaming material or references on it lately.

Just curious. -- Barking Alien

Last month I averaged  2 posts a day and had 25 posts dealing directly with RPG content and another 6 that were tangentially associated with that content. So I averaged 1 RPG post a day.  I'm just putting out a high volume so it seems less I suppose.

This month I've posted 6 times (as of this writing on 4/2) and 3 of them have been about RPG content - okay, one of them was me talking about the podcast I want to launch one day about RPGs but haven't done so yet. I still count it. :)

Answering Questions: Barking Alien (1 of 2)

What RPG(s) are you currently running and/or playing? -- Barking Alien

Currently I'm running a bastardized version of 3rd with heavy influences from Advanced and Fifth editions. Over the last couple of years I've pulled more and more from just about anything that I like rather than limiting my games to rigid rules. 

It's made things a lot more fun. 

I'm also teaching myself Burning Wheel and Rifts right now. BW is a lot easier to understand than Rifts but they're both enjoyable.

Answering Questions: Rubbermancer

If a man came up to you with a severed finger up his nose, clearly not his own, where would you be? -- Rubbermancer

I would be on Watts Rd in Chattanooga, TN and looking for a way to get the fuck out of there. That place has turned into one of the scarier places I've been which is a damned shame because it used to be really pretty.

Answering Questions: Guiseppe Antonelli

Why your wife should answer our questions? -- Guiseppe Antonelli

I figured that I would just take an opportunity to give her a little bit of fun. She's got a good sense of humor and any chance to make her use it delights me.

Why in Italy the RPG is less prevalent than in America? -- Guiseppe Antonelli

I honestly don't know, but my guess is that you've got too many beautiful women and too much great wine for role-playing games to get a toe hold.

:-p -- Guiseppe Antonelli

:]

:)

:D

Disapproving face disapproves of both of us.

Answering Questions: Nick Salai (5 of 5)

Why have we put so much power and reliance in our government? -- Nick Salai

Mostly tradition. We've done so since the Civil War and it's only gotten more so since World War II.

Answering Questions: Nick Salai (3 of 5)

[Are lawsuits] a product of our advancement or degeneration as a society?-- Nick Salai

I think that by and large they are a product of our advancement. In the old days if a corporation decided to come in and poison the town's water supply there wasn't much you could do - and if things keep going the way they are today you won't be able to do much now either. While copyright trolls, ambulance chasers, and the like are a problem there are lots of legitimate lawsuits out there that deserve to be won by their plaintiffs and it's far better that we have that option than if it's taken away from us. 

There are some real assholes out there in this world and it's no longer acceptable to just shoot them in the face because they needed killing. Now we have to hit them in the wallet, for better or worse.

Answering Questions: Nick Salai (2 of 5)

How did we allow ourselves to become such a litigious society? -- Nick Salai 

I think that it was invariable outcome of the 1980s when juries and judges began to award ever higher levies against companies and individuals for legitimate lawsuits. Once the door was open there was only so long before the scum suckers decided that they'd be able get rich doing the same. Soon every lazy, ignorant jack-weasel made an effort to fall in stores and public buildings so they could claim they'd been harmed and sue the owners. 

Unfortunately it worked for a long time - those days appear to be changing though. I'm worried that it may swing too far in the other direction where people who are legitimately harmed through the negligence or malfeasance of others are ignored and unduly rejected. Time will tell on that one.