User talk:Cptlogic
6/12/2007
Nearly a year later, I'm back to work on chargen. I'm building from scratch again on a text-only Linux box, so development is going a good deal more slowly. Like adonchargen, chargen will become charedit when I am certain of its integration with the existing codebase or when I am willing to commit parts of it, whichever comes first.
I'm also working on completing the Complete History of Everyone - adding links, structure, and content to make the article more useful. This also involves improving some of the articles the CHoE links to.
7/10/2006
Putting the Magic back in Magic
7/6/2006
My motherland just turned 230. Hooray!
But seriously....
I am working on a prototype character generator called adonchargen. Adonchargen is currently being "developed" using non-portable libs, a B movie horror of a GUI and little or no OOD.
My goal is to turn the ugly duckling that is adonchargen into something that can become charedit. New UI using portable libs, a clean, simple UI and a decent class hierarchy.
I'm currently at what I think of as adonchargen 0.2 - still working on the character mechanics. 0.3 will be the completion of the mechanics and perhaps primitive filehandling.
I am working toward adonchargen 0.5 - my staging point to charedit 0.6.
6/13/2006
For future reference, relates to dlgedit.
3/19/2006
There is a lot going on these days. I'm uploading a lot of our artwork. Now I just have to work on building a gallery for it. I'm also working on some more background pieces - including a piece on the six Elvish kingdoms and what is left of them.
I also need to work on a Bestiary of some kind, in addition to working out some armour rules with Kai.
I went to the IRC meeting.
3/1/2006
Work continues apace on the quest information.
2/24/2006
Added the text of the original draft plot synopsis, with links and extra content. I have also added some links to the places page. I still have to add content to half of these, but it can be moved in from other files later.
2/23/2006
I've tried to update some of the quest related information, including adding stub entries to various character articles. These stubs are all in a Quests section and denote quests in which a given character may have some involvement. Also, dead-end page abatement continues.
2/22/2006
Added a few more content pages, including information on Kidalethil and adding a namespace for Items. I plan to bring some item ideas in from other places over the next few days and perhaps also to begin uploading some of Cirrus' artwork.
2/21/2006
I am currently in the process of adding new content and eliminating dead-end pages.
3/3/2005
I'm recapitulating my last progress post to the list. I've got about 30 pages of text featuring: several songs, a few spells, weapons, various rings and talismans, new character classes, and lots of atmosphere.
1/26/2005
Well, I'm still experiencing snags and hiccups in the attempt to get the novel from one hard drive to another without wearing my fingers off in the process. Networking older computers can be such a pain in the neck...
Anyway, I've also been working on spells, weapons, and such. There's also another shorter story idea taking shape in my mind. I think I may try to sketch out the shorter story as a part of getting the larger story clearly in mind. It concerns some of the structure and particulars of Dun Barethsol, so hopefully I'll get the essence right without tying the hands of our artists and graphic designers. That would be most unfortunate, I think.
I'll try to get access to a scanner soon, so I can scan some of this stuff in that way. My concept sketches really really stink, but I think our artists can take the ideas and make something of them.
1/20/2005
I am in the process of posting those portions of the novel that I have completed to date. I have four or so chapters complete, plus other chapters started or otherwise thought out, though ten-fingering them between my lovely old IBM luggable and an ssh terminal will take time, particularly since I can only sit at a console for so long. Chapter one is posted completely, chapter two is in progress, and I have at least created files for all the chapters covering the action I've written or imagined to date.
One or more of Cirrus' drawings will probably help me a lot as I imagine all of this.
BTW, good to see folks using the diary again.
1/17/2005
I'll work on the dev diary navbar thing soon. However, it may be that the navbar is borken because some of the content is on Endor and some is on a linuxgames server. Also, I'll see about validating the code. (Cirrus pointed out that it wasn't validating)
I'm also thinking of adding a new feature to the admin script - accessing and editing files that already exist on the Endor site, working from a script I once wrote while trying to build my own weblog. The way the basic type-and-load script works is that one types one's text - tags and all, with the exception of the opening and closing html and body tags - into the textarea and the script saves it as an HTML document. Very simple, mostly noddy, but it works. My plan is to write a companion script that will load whole files into the text area, allow for preview, and then allow submission.
Mostly, it's meant to make my site upkeep work easier (and to prevent shoving the entire plotweb site down a pscp tunnel every time I need to make changes). My admins don't allow ftp (I don't think) and I'd rather not annoy them with regularly scheduled massive uploads. Endor use and access is a privilege, particularly for an alum like myself, so I want to respect it scrupulously.
1/15/2005
Well, I think the dev diary may be working again. This is just a test, really. In other news, I'm working up a novel set in the Adonthell universe. Settings include Cirdanth, Uzdun'kal, Elgilad, Erinsford, the area around Waste's Edge, and other places.
12/9/2003
Well, I've published a pair of new pieces regarding backstory events. I hope our webmaster gets them up and available soon. Enjoy.
In other news, I've begun to work on items for Dun Barethsol and future versions of the game. The going is slow, at this point. I probably just need to sit down with some loose-leaf notebook paper and start writing.
Mostly, I'm working on special magick items right now, including their histories. Much of my inspiration of concentrating on items with historys comes from playing Icewind Dale (Goodbye, Black Isle Studios), and the histories provided with some of the magickal weapons and armors found in the game. The detail provided by the IWD writers gives very nearly gives some items lives of their own. Also, once I've done the items with histories, the magick items without histories will be easier since I've already got the basics of a given item type built into the really powerful forms of that type.
Some of these things will be familiar, I suppose. Enchanted or runemarked weapons, magick rings, and Ancient Items of Incredible Power are normal fare in fantasy roleplaying. Of course, there are things that other CRPGs probably haven't done, unless some crazy crafter in an MMORPG has done what I'm thinking of doing. I can't tell you what it is, though. That would spoil the surprise.
Above all, expect continuity, since I'm looking forward and backward in the development of our story for some of my ideas.
8/16/2003
Serendipity. That's the only word for it. I was inspired by a drawing done by one of my sister's friends to add badgers to my list of werebeasts in the Adonthell bestiary (this one, specifically). Of course, given what I've done already with the Marring of the World, I decided to add make some Dwarvish werebadgers as well. Today, after a quick trip to the local branch library, I discovered just how smart that decision actually was. Badgers are like Dwarves in many ways. They're solitary. They dig very well. If cornered, they're fighters. Their claws are big, long, and sturdy enough to put marks in stone. I couldn't have done much better if I had known what I was doing!
I'm going to have to change a little of my preliminary write-up, since I realize that Dwarves, rather than being the least happy of the badger-prime hybrids, would actually adapt quite well to being part badger. As there are about eight different badger species, it wouldn't be all that hard to make different Hill Dwarf (aka Runebadger) setts (the proper word for a family of badgers) look different. Their relation to badgers also lends them some interesting abilities and statistics, relative to other Dwarves, such as a greater resistance to poison and probably better dexterity.
7/6/2003
I've decided to update and brainstorm this way this time, mostly because my only other way of creating by typing would be excruciatingly slow across a 56k wan link.
I'm a writer. It took me a while to come to that conclusion, given that before now, my writing has always been called something else. That, however, is beside the point. The real point is that as a writer, I can't really get the juices flowing until something is going down somewhere. So, since pen and paper are also excruciatingly slow, I'll do it this way.
I've been thinking lately about a handful of things. (No, I haven't forgotten the poem, I just haven't dredged up the notebook that the first part of it went down in.) One of them would test the limits of the rules we've set out for ourselves as world builders. Another of them just needs to be checked with the rest of the team, to see if my idea has any merit to it.
My first idea can be summarized like this: What if, in the true Golden Age, before Adonthell, like Avalon, was lost to the mists, the four races of the modern world were not so much sundered? The Elves and their magick weaken. Why? The Dwarvish folk dwindle. What caused this? What if members of each race once worked together on things?
But that is just a question. I think I should actually say something, develop an idea. I've been working on the various groups to be found in the south of our main continent. I've not really explored the central or northern parts of it yet, but that will come.
So...groups. My main focus has been on what I call the mixed companies. These are a relative handful of groups where two races can work in concert. In these companies of Rangers, Witches, Shamans, and Monastics, Half-Elvish and Human folk work together.
The Rangers are fairly united, as organizations go. They work in bands - scouting, hunting, protecting, and learning. Rangers are the eyes and ears of the Deep Forest Tribes. They are the sentries and spies of the Half-Elvish dominions. Unlike the Witches and Shamans, they are not divided into distinctive sects. Bands of Rangers do differeniate themselves over time, however, and new ForestKeepers are selected and trained by individual bands rather than by a central authority. Like the Shamans, they venerate and emulate totemic animals. More than anything, it is the choice of totems and their particular areas of patrol that distinguish one band from another. Like most in his band, Andare's totem animal is a bear.
The other groups I will just name for now: The Sisters of the Green, the Sisters of the Red, the Rods of Amber, and the Knights of the Green. Each is a druidic order, though the Sisters take the most beneficient approach to nature and balance, while the Rods of Amber are the most violent and chaotic in their approach to keeping the balance. All, however, serve the Green Lady and the Axe-bearer. All honor the Lord of the Beasts and Her Grace, the Mistress of the Birds.
6/26/2003
I still haven't finished the poem I've mentioned, though I don't really know, other than time, what the hold-up is. I've also begun work on more background details - particularly character sketches of our baddies - and on a chart listing various classes or factions that might show up in the next version.
I have the usual things - Warriors, Thieves, Monks, Mages, etc, - that one would expect in an rpg that is influenced by such varied sources as the SNES Final Fantasy games, Diablo and DII, the Black Isle games (particularly Icewind Dale, BG2 and Planescape: Torment). Anyway, there are certain classes which will show up in our gameworld that I don't think anyone else has implemented - at least, not quite this way. I can't really speak to MMORPGs like UO, EQ, Dark Age of Camelot, etc., but I think our take on classes and character types such as the Druid/Shaman is fairly unique. Of this I can be fairly proud, since it means that we are creating something new, different, and interesting, rather than cloning other rpg/adventure games.
Finally, I have a few ideas that I need to bounce off the rest of the dev team (it's so cool to be able to say that - 'the rest of the dev team' :D ) about a certain favorite class of mine that I think needs a twist...that and something else.
5/26/2003
I am still here.
I've just published (to the plot-discussion list) the piece I discussed in my diary last entry.
It came out a good deal differently than I envisioned, and I've actually published a different section than the one I discussed last time. I've submitted section two, and may actually scrap section one, except for a few very important stanzas.
Perhaps the most important things about this piece are its structure and certain details that are found in it.
As far as structure is concerned, I've actually developed two stanza-forms, rather than one. One is a five-line prophetic stanza in a variation on the general form: aabbc. The other is a ten-line narrative stanze in the general form: aabbcddeef. A uniform rhyme scheme would get very boring very quickly, so there are variations, e.g., abcbc, abcab, and ababc. The long stanzas can also vary, particularly in the forms ababccdede or aabbccddee. And of course, some of these rhymes are slant-rhyme rather than exact rhyme.
For those of you familiar with English-language poetry scansion, the next paragraph is superfluous. For those who wish to understand more fully, read on.
When I denote rhyme scheme, any letter that recurs denotes a line which rhymes with another line. Letters which occur only once don't rhyme with any other lines in the poem.
The poem itself is written from the perspective of someone who assumes that the hearers know what she is talking about, so there is a great deal of allusion without much explanation. I might add things in from section one which will explain more.
In the poem, I mention about half-a-dozen groups or factions which the player might conceivably join, though I doubt all of them will show up in Dun Barethsol. I also show a little more about the behavior and methods of certain spell-casting factions which may also show up in Dun Barethsol.
Looking forward, I've also gotten some ideas about some powerful items which show up in Dun Barethsol and might also show up more prominently in Adonthell 1.0. But I'd better finish the poem first. All I can say is: Remember the Wizard Construct in Planescape: Torment?
4/4/2003
I've been working on a narrative about a particularly important event in the backstory of Dun Barethsol (v0.4). I had hoped to publish the first section this week, but given that I am going out of town this weekend, I may possibly finish the first section, but I won't be able to publish it. Hopefully next week.
The highlights of this particular piece will be its form - I've been working on the poetic forms which the Green Sisters use - and some of its contents. Part of my job as the resident English-language poet will be to write the verse which might be used in the game. Parts of this poem will likely show up in Dun Barethsol and perhaps in more than one form.
3/8/2003
Pledging for Alpha Psi Omega is over, so I actually have free time. I've put in some more work on the text which is to be part of the introduction that Kai mentioned.
2/6/2003
I won't be contributing much between now and the end of February. I'm joining a fraternity (Alpha Psi Omega) and the combination of work, school, and pledging is keeping me very, very busy. I'll be back, however.
1/28/2003
At the present, my next task is to finalize a little piece about the town of Erinsford, which is near Waste's Edge but larger and more like civilization. I have another piece to write about events in Erinsford, but that piece will be more of a short story and take rather longer to write, particularly considering the busyness of my current schedule - work, school, and joining Alpha Psi Omega. Anyhow, that's what I'm up to: plot and writing, as usual.
9/29/2002
As I was working on a sketch of our main character (for the use of the development team), I realized that there are some slight discrepancies in some things I have written. Fortunately, fixing those discrepancies should make the main character more interesting and more believable. I still have to write the sketch of our main villain as well, though I expect that to be very nearly the longest and most involved of the sketches, just because of the complexity of the character.
9/4/2002
Right now I am working on a piece about the 'Witches' and their history. I still need to update some of the character sketches and get my writings back into the main flow of v0.4 plot development. I keep doing related things which will shape and enrich v0.4 and beyond, but not things which will get v0.4 'to press' sooner rather than later. Probably the next thing I should work on, after the witches, and the minor updates, is the story behind our villain.
9/8/2002
First off, I apologize about the wayward news item. I followed the wrong link. D'oh.
My intentions (and my stupidity) are now writ large, for all the world to see. And now, for the sake of having the content in the right place....
My immediate goals are to finalize the Marring of the World piece, update the Dwarves of Uzdun'kal write-up, and post my comments on the new plot revisions. Given that I'm going home for two weeks and that my writing time will be limited there, I'm going to do the things I've listed before I leave.
My main goal (such as it is) over the break is to think about the groups and factions found in the world - Rangers, Yetin Order, Witches, Schools of Magick, the Half-Elvish Choruses, Dwarvish Clans, etc. I've written about the Rangers already, but that material is co-mingled with information on the Yetin Order. I'm not sure if I should separate the Rangers stuff out and base a new document off of it or rework the current material to be more inclusive.
In the longer term, I'll be back-fixing the character sketches for v0.4. I'm thinking I'll also need to write up some old documents which will show up in v0.4.