tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36579395225991549822024-03-12T23:51:04.596-04:00Division NihilThis is a blog about role-playing games. It includes some general thoughts, some deeper essays, and the occasional piece of short fiction. It will also include a number of posts regarding Seven Kingdoms, a new RPG which I am live-blogging the development of.Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-16531210144218982602017-04-27T13:35:00.000-04:002017-04-27T13:35:16.420-04:00Living With a CompromiseOur next series of word comes from Brittany Balcom. This is the kind of set that I really anticipated being a problem. They aren't instantly evocative, they don't make good names, and they tend to function better on the personal scale than the setting scale.<br>
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Coordination, manufacture, insubordination, envy, solace, fecundity, compromise<br>
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Given that Brittany is a huge GoT fan, and I haven't done epic fantasy yet, I decided to give it a go. Given the vast array of D&D worlds and fantasy novels out there, epic fantasy also has a really deep well to draw from, which gave me a bit of a crutch when dealing with a tricky set.<br>
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It turns out to have been far too effective of a crutch. After a slow start, I had all seven words incorporated at the macro level of the setting. There still wasn't enough setting to really play in. I had races and gods, but very little for characters to interact with. So I doubled down on the challenge. I kept the macro level, gave myself another 24 hours, and used the same set of words to build the micro level.<br>
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I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, though it still needs more fleshing out and <i>much</i> better organization.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/living-with-compromise.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-39070774261794974452017-04-20T12:44:00.002-04:002017-04-20T12:44:51.902-04:00The Wheel in the Sky Keeps TurningMy lovely friend Liz clearly looked at her bookshelf to generate this list of words. As such, it's a fabulous list for our purposes:<br>
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Dune, game, code, hunger, wheel, wizard, stranger<br>
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I'm trying to avoid pulling any of the original titles in as inspiration, which is harder than you might think. The obvious answer is to go for a super-shiny sci-fi setting, like you'd frequently see in the 80s, but still avoid Dune. Fortunately, "game" took me to a different bit of 80s fiction, and I totally stole a piece that I love from Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-wheel-in-sky-keeps-turning.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-29520840103670185842017-04-19T13:00:00.003-04:002017-04-19T13:00:48.388-04:00Again and AgainThis was a decidedly challenging set, primarily because it was a sentence rather than a group of words:<br>
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The Devil went down to Georgia ...again<br>
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A couple of these are easy (Devil and Georgia). A couple are really hard (I still don't like what I had to do to make "went" and "down" work). But once I saw "...again" I knew I had to pull out the time travel trope. Especially as we've been watching Timeless and Time After Time recently.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/again-and-again.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-90527472316709909892017-04-18T09:44:00.000-04:002017-04-18T09:44:02.023-04:00The Hellebore SocietyAnd back to the final set from my kith, when he finally stopped screwing with me. And so we get a set of proper words, that are wonderfully, instantly evocative:<br>
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Blonde, hellebore, melee, nervy, rising, drinking, tink<br>
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I don't know about you guys, but I went immediately to a stylistic 1920's adventure vibe, that could lean either noir or pulp. It was Tink, though, that brought that touch of magic.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-hellebore-society.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-17626534790954332082017-04-17T09:57:00.000-04:002017-04-17T09:57:52.535-04:00Three is a Magic NumberToday we're getting away from the really weird sets of words and back to the kind of set I was expecting. We have:<br>
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Contemplate, poison, triangle, outrage, perplexed, resilient, allegiance<br>
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For an RPG setting, there are a couple of easy words there. "Perplexed" gave me some trouble, as it doesn't lend itself well to the kind of macro level interaction you need in a setting. But it was "triangle" that really kicked off the core conceit.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/three-is-magic-number.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-48436186749053113282017-04-14T11:16:00.001-04:002017-04-14T11:16:34.523-04:00Sharing is Caring, AlwaysI mentioned in my last post that I got a couple really terrible sets of words from my kith. Today's post is the second of these.<br>
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I, sharing, oh, you, always, warning, PETA<br>
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This is considerably better than yesterday's batch. There are only two pronouns and one interjection. I can't use the same device for "I" that I did yesterday, because that would be cheating. Fortunately, I came up with a different solution, balancing off PETA. "You" was incredibly difficult, though. I still feel like I kind of flubbed that one.<br>
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The inclusion of PETA makes me want to make it a modern setting. I haven't done an urban fantasy yet, and I love those. (Fair cop, I cribbed a bit of this from another urban fantasy setting I've been poking at.) And "always" kicked off the thought process...<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/sharing-is-caring-always.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-81469717242889835932017-04-12T14:01:00.001-04:002017-04-12T15:36:54.581-04:00This Land is My LandSo my loving kith chose to hit me up with a couple really annoying sets of words. This is where I really noticed that I should have been more specific in my request.<br>
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I, my, he, such, um, yes, daw!<br>
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How the heck am I supposed to craft a setting around a bunch of pronouns? Sure, I could tweak a couple of them by making them acronyms. But what am I supposed to do, create a guy who goes by "I"?<br>
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Hey, wait. That gives me an idea for a Lewis Carroll/Neil Gaiman type of setting. I can work with this...<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/this-land-is-my-land.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-58090673074325503152017-04-11T14:49:00.000-04:002017-04-11T14:52:10.698-04:00The Enclave<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Facebook popped up with a memory, and reminded me that I never finished <a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/04/challenge-accepted.html" target="_blank">my setting challenge</a>. Let's get going on this again, huh? The next one in the list was:</span><br>
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br></span>
<span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: inherit;">frustrating, angry, remote, forever, freezing, beyond, control</span></span><br>
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="background-color: white;">The trickiest word was definitely "frustrating". It doesn't make a good name for a place. It's not an eponym that either a villain or hero is likely to take. It's far too long to be an acronym. It just doesn't have a clear place. Then I had an odd epiphany, and cheated a little bit. I added in a bit of system instead of making it pure setting, though the word is used in-setting.</span></span></span><br>
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #141823;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="background-color: white;">I'm also not entirely happy with this, because it ends up being a fairly static setting. As written, there's just nothing going on. This can obviously be fixed just by adding faces. I probably should have done that.</span></span></span><br>
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #141823;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><br></span>
<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-enclave.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-58537860470725071332016-09-22T10:20:00.000-04:002016-09-22T10:20:28.422-04:007th Sea Second Edition - My OpinionsSo, despite my attempts to remain neutral, it is clear that the new edition of my favorite game has been a disappointment to me. It is true. And today, I shall go into some of the reasons why. Fair warning, this is not intended to be an unbiased review. Much of what follows is one hundred percent about my own tastes, preferences, prejudices, and, yes, biases.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2016/09/7th-sea-second-edition-my-opinions.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-38919141822948080772016-09-20T10:15:00.000-04:002016-09-20T10:15:12.095-04:007th Sea Second Edition - The SessionAs mentioned, I ran a session of 7th Sea for Charm City Gameday. As part of the review of the game, I wanted to do a post-mortem. Also, because it's been a while since I ran a con game.<br>
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Short version: It went really, surprisingly well. The group was engaged and attentive. The scenario I made up clicked. The system mostly worked as intended.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2016/09/7th-sea-second-edition-session.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-14675303782794471332016-09-19T11:08:00.000-04:002016-09-19T11:08:04.300-04:007th Sea Second Edition - A ReviewThis past weekend, I had the opportunity to run a <a href="http://7thsea.com/" target="_blank">7th Sea</a> session at <a href="http://www.charmcitygameday.com/" target="_blank">Charm City Gameday</a>. It was interesting, illuminating, and a lot of fun. Mostly, it required that I read pretty deeply into the system so that I was prepared. Now, of course, I have a lot of Thoughts(TM) that I want to share.<br>
<br>
Rather than bludgeon you with a single epic post, I'm going to break it up into three. Today, I'm going to give a basic review of the game. I'm mostly going to stick to the facts, trying to give you enough information to make up your own mind. The next one is going to be a specific post-mortem on the intro session, noting some of the surprises that came up, and the things that worked and didn't work. Finally, I'm going to do a bit that explores my own personal reactions to the game, that likely won't be as fair and balanced as this review.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2016/09/7th-sea-second-edition-review.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-64918137497949724112015-11-16T10:23:00.002-05:002015-11-16T10:23:52.203-05:00Paris, Beirut, and Priorities.I have seen a number of posts recently lamenting the uneven coverage that has been given to Beirut and Paris this weekend. I feel compelled to discuss this and to offer up my thoughts. Mostly because I see a lot of people attributing this uneven coverage to some very unpleasant reasons that are not entirely justified. This is much more complex than "the media doesn't care about brown people".<br>
<br>
So I'm going to break the usual pattern of this blog to post something political. I want this to be someplace more permanent than a Facebook status.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/11/paris-beirut-and-priorities.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-46686846601112655542015-10-01T10:30:00.000-04:002015-10-01T10:30:45.819-04:00Let's Do The Time Warp AgainYes, it's the obvious title. So sue me.<br>
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I was having a think in the shower this morning (as you do), and had a thought pop into my head. It was kind of a cool thought. It led to a couple other cool thoughts. They suggest a character for a story, but I'm not quite sure yet what the story would be. I'm also pretty sure I don't have the chops to write either character.<br>
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The subject: Time travel. But not as you know it.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/10/lets-do-time-warp-again.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-36227443211565899502015-04-17T16:15:00.001-04:002015-04-17T16:15:00.743-04:00Scraping By on the BeltSean Gugler treated me with: progress striking unscrewed heinous kilt free sunshine<br>
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For an RPG setting, there are some very simple words to work with here. Oddly, "free" is a tricky one, because it's overused in so many settings. The combination of "kilt" and "striking" suggested immigrant labo, probably in a colonial setting. But it was working on the odd inclusion of "unscrewed" that made things start to click.<br>
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And I really want to dive so deep into this setting.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/04/scraping-by-on-belt.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-80699775155828109892015-04-16T16:11:00.000-04:002015-04-16T16:11:14.305-04:00The Land of TannirAdam Tannir gave me the kind of mess of obscure words I was expecting out of this challenge: pelagic, ruffian, underwear, niveous, coffee, elk, riparian. Due to a bit of a snafu with his submission, I have the option of trading out riparian for green, but I love the word riparian.<br>
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Of all of those, underwear gave me the most trouble. Go figure.<br>
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After a couple days of apocalyptic visions, let us go now to the dawn of civilization. A gentler time, with gentler people. Until things change just a bit, of course.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-land-of-tannir.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-88423208232592186902015-04-15T14:08:00.000-04:002015-04-15T14:08:13.278-04:00Every Silver Lining has a CloudCrickett Hutchinson gave me: ostrich, June, purple, octopus, cellular, daffodil, banner<br>
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Given that collection, I naturally thought cyberpunk. No? Well, I did. I may also still be in a bit of an apocalyptic mood from yesterday. As such, the bright and shiny world of 2045 suffered The June Events.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/04/every-silver-lining-has-cloud.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-88211054962513754222015-04-14T14:24:00.000-04:002015-04-14T14:24:49.901-04:00Do Not Go GentlyJason Roop provided me with the seven words: "A man, a plan, a canal. Panama."<br>
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Canals suggest one of three things: Panama (which I wanted to avoid for being a bit too on the nose), Venice, and Mars of the old science fiction epics (e.g., Barsoom, Out of the Silent Planet). I chose to start with the latter.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/04/do-not-go-gently.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-51706440835258319472015-04-13T11:13:00.000-04:002017-04-27T13:36:37.193-04:00Challenge accepted!So, in another place, in another time, and under another name I made a boast. I claimed to be something of a wizard at setting creation. I claimed that I could sit down and create a new setting out of whole cloth in less than a day. Not in extensive detail, obviously, but with enough of a framework that players could get character ideas sparking and a GM with some improv skills could just start running with it.<br />
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It has always itched the back of my brain that I have made this boast, but never actually proven it one way or the other. I dislike idle bragging. So, now I'm going to put it to the test.<br />
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One of the variants of the concept was doing a sort of <a href="http://game-chef.com/" target="_blank">Game Chef</a> competition, but solely with the setting rather than a whole game. Given a set of "secret ingredients" and a restricted time period, I would generate a setting. It would need to be coherent, interesting, and gameable. I would like to do a dedicate four-hour period, but that's not really viable with my general schedule. So I figured I would give myself 24 hours, with time in there for work, sleep, and other necessities.<br />
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Giving myself secret ingredients isn't really a workable idea. So I need input from others. To that end, I posted this to my Facebook:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
So I'm going to try a writing exercise. Specifically, I made a boast a few years back, and I want to see if I can actually live up to it. It's an Iron Chef sort of thing. I'm not going to go into more details, because I don't want to skew the input.<br />
What I need from you fine people are sets of seven words. These seven words will be keywords in the output. You can enter multiple times if you'd like. Each entry must be seven words (or short phrases), though.<br />
Go.</blockquote>
I nearly instantly discovered a couple of things. First, I have some friends who <b>really</b> like to screw with me. Second, I should have specified "nouns, adjectives, or verbs" and not merely words. I have a LOT of articles, prepositions, and especially pronouns in the results. That's going to make this, to say the least, difficult. And, as you can see from the very first submission, I should have specified seven <i>different</i> words.<br />
<br />
So now I have 13 sets of words. Four of them I already know are going to be ridiculously difficult. But I will do my best. If they aren't difficult, it's not really a challenge, right?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/04/do-not-go-gently.html" target="_blank">A man a plan a canal Panama</a>.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/04/every-silver-lining-has-cloud.html" target="_blank">ostrich June purple cellular octopus daffodil banner</a></span></li>
<li><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-land-of-tannir.html" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;">Pelagic ruffian underwear niveous coffee elk </span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;">riparian</span></a><span data-reactid=".1ht.1:3:1:$comment1606229089589090_1606275159584483:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.0" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2015/04/scraping-by-on-belt.html" target="_blank">progress striking unscrewed heinous kilt free sunshine</a></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-enclave.html" target="_blank">frustrating, angry, remote, forever, freezing, beyond, control</a></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/this-land-is-my-land.html" target="_blank">I yes um my he such daw!</a></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/sharing-is-caring-always.html" target="_blank">sharing oh always I you warning PETA</a></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/three-is-magic-number.html" target="_blank">Contemplate poison triangle outrage perplexed resilient allegiance</a></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-hellebore-society.html" target="_blank">blond(e)*, hellebore, melee, nervy, rising, drinking, tink</a></span></li>
<li><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/again-and-again.html" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;">the devil went down to Georgia. ..again</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"> </span></a></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-wheel-in-sky-keeps-turning.html" target="_blank">Dune Game Code Hunger Wheel Stranger Wizard</a></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2017/04/living-with-compromise.html" target="_blank">Coordination, manufacture, insubordination, envy, solace, fecundity, compromise.</a></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;">Couplet haiku quatrain limerick sonnet villanelle sestina</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
(That last one is the most likely to defeat me. Coming up with a setting based on seven different forms of poetry? Ouch.)<br />
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Look for the results over the next two weeks. There are a few of these that are going to be very difficult.Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-40594137372191590972014-11-14T13:58:00.000-05:002014-11-14T13:58:00.289-05:00d20 Rifts - Oh, how nice. A finale.Well, that's that. As I mentioned before, I'm not posting the feats, psion skills, or spells I drew up. They cross the line of what I consider allowable IP. They also are too much detail for anyone to want to read in a blog post.<br />
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This has been a wildly successful experiment. In the sense that there is no doubt what the conclusion must be. There is no actual interest in this work. Or, at least, no interest in reading my take on it. I only had a couple posts break 50 views (the most popular was Cyber-Knight at 64 views). I did not have a single comment. I only had a few people retweet my announcements. I pretty much lost steam about halfway through.<br />
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But, these posts will now exist for posterity. And, hopefully, someone will google "d20 rifts" and land here.<br />
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I don't regret what I did. And, it is nice to have confirmation that I shouldn't pour any more energy into this time sink. I can put it up on the shelf with a clear conscience.<br />
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Now on to a different project!<br />
<br />Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-64651519104168833192014-11-14T13:44:00.000-05:002014-11-14T13:44:00.470-05:00d20 Rifts - ShifterAnother iconic Rifts caster is the Shifter. Because how can you have a setting called Rifts and NOT give someone the ability to create and control rifts?<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2014/11/d20-rifts-shifter.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-2405089320823395702014-11-13T13:36:00.000-05:002014-11-13T13:36:00.223-05:00d20 Rifts - MysticSome people are mages. Some people are psions. Mystics are both. In Rifts, they tend to be silly and under-powered. I tried to up their game with this prestige class.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2014/11/d20-rifts-mystic.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-31279936232976856092014-11-12T11:43:00.000-05:002014-11-12T11:43:00.521-05:00d20 Rifts - Ley Line WalkerToday is the first of our magical prestige classes. I turned the classic Rifts mage types into prestige classes, because they were all remarkably specialized. We begin with the most archetypal Rifts caster, the Ley Line Walker.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2014/11/d20-rifts-ley-line-walker.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-61863995512421064772014-11-11T11:33:00.000-05:002014-11-11T11:33:00.411-05:00d20 Rifts - Wild MageUnlike his cousin the Learned Mage, who we met yesterday, the Wild Mage glories in the power of magic. They are masters of the meta-magic feat, allowing them to reshape what spells they do have at will.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2014/11/d20-rifts-wild-mage.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-75578020790747762502014-11-10T11:25:00.000-05:002014-11-10T11:25:00.474-05:00d20 Rifts - Learned MageNow that we know how to cast spells, we need some mages to do the casting. There are two base classes for mages. Today is the Learned Mage. A Learned Mage concentrates on control of the energies, and on the breadth of their spell list.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2014/11/d20-rifts-learned-mage.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3657939522599154982.post-80505359165166445762014-11-07T12:00:00.000-05:002014-11-07T12:00:05.141-05:00d20 Rifts - Casting a Deadly SpellWe covered how to gain PPE (aka spell points) <a href="http://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2014/10/d20-rifts-source-of-magic.html" target="_blank">in this post.</a> Now we are going to cover how to convert PPE into an actual spell. As a note, I am not planning to actually post any spells. Not only does that cross into serious IP no-no territory, but it's terribly tedious. It was actually the process of writing up and standardizing all the spells that ground this whole project to a halt in the first place.<br>
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<a href="https://divisionnihil.blogspot.com/2014/11/d20-rifts-casting-deadly-spell.html#more">Read more »</a>Marshall Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15647111558095583028noreply@blogger.com0