The End.

I've listened to much of Mr. Jacob R Possin's voluble oratory, but I admit I'm a little confused. Sure, I'm just an average person and not some intellectual, all-knowing brainiac, but it seems to me that Jacob should just quit whining about everything. Unless you share my view that Jacob loves presenteeism with the kind of irrational passion normally reserved for sports teams, there's no need for you to hear me further. How can we expect to condemn his criminal ineptitude if we walk right into his trap? We can't, and that's why it is not difficult to see the undercurrents of jujuism in Jacob's remonstrations. Okay, that was a facetious statement. This one is not: The term "idiot savant" comes to mind when thinking of Jacob. Admittedly, that term applies only halfway to him, which is why I assert that someone has been giving Jacob's brain a very thorough washing, and now Jacob is trying to do the same to us.
Jacob's expostulations can be rightly understood only as what some careless toughies have been brave enough to call them: a failure. Whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to help people break free of Jacob's cycle of oppression. Does Jacob do research before he reports things, or does he just guess and hope he's right? The reason I ask is that I cannot promise not to be angry at Jacob. I do promise, however, to try to keep my anger under control, to keep it from leading me—as it leads Jacob—to popularize a genre of music whose graphic lyrics explicitly urge intellectually challenged maggots to descend to character assassination and name calling.
While it is essential—and among my highest priorities—to put to rest neurotic and uninformed convictions such as Jacob's, whenever I turn around I see Jacob turning us into easy prey for vulgar polluters. To deny such a truth would be to deny the evidence of our own senses. He thinks I'm trying to say that ethical responsibility is merely a trammel of earthbound mortals and should not be required of a demigod like Jacob. Wait! I just heard something. Oh, never mind; it's just the sound of the point zooming way over Jacob's head. His personal interest in seeing his diatribes shoved down people's throats is infantile but that's to be expected of Jacob.
Jacob can make no claim to a distinguishing talent of any kind. (Read as: Jacob goes ballistic every time I so much as hint that his servitors have discounted their brain as a useless organ.) His henchmen argue that cell-phone towers are in fact covert mind-control devices that use scalar waves to beam images into people's brains while they sleep. These are the same dissolute blackguards who wipe out delicate ecosystems. This is no coincidence; there are two things we need to do right away. First, we need to empower the oppressed to control their own lives. Second—and this is critical so get out your highlighter—we need to defenestrate his ideas and deponticate his expedients. Once those two things are accomplished we can finally start discussing how the earth presents a wonderful example of variety in all classes of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. People, beasts, and plants belonging to distinct classes all exhibit special qualities and peculiarities. Unfortunately, Jacob's special quality is that he once tried convincing me that his communications won't be used for political retribution. Does he think I was born yesterday? I mean, it seems pretty obvious that Jacob hates it when you say that his spleeny principles are like an onion that reveals layer after layer of statism. He really hates it when you say that. Try saying it to him sometime if you have a thick skin and don't mind having him shriek insults at you.
Jacob's prevarications emblematize an increasing deturpation of cultural standards and a triumph of the meretricious. It's also true that I find his tirades presumptuous, tyrannical, rambunctious, and more than a little hateful, but that'll have to be a subject for another letter. Almost without exception, Jacob can justify anything that brings him a profit. Well, that's a bit too general of a statement to have much meaning, I'm afraid. So let me instead explain my point as follows: Ill-bred spoiled brats do not deserve the assistance they receive from society. There are several logical contradictions in his position on this matter. For example, Jacob claims that the world is crying out to labor beneath his firm but benevolent heel. You should realize that absolutely no empirical evidence obtained by scientific means exists to support that claim. Alas, that doesn't stop Jacob from making things worse.
Judging by the generally delirious nature of Jacob's dupes, I can see that Jacob would have us subvert time-tested societal norms. May God, in his restraining mercy, forbid that we should ever do this most ribald and insensitive thing! There are two related questions in this matter. The first is to what extent he has tried to spoil the whole Zen Buddhist New Age mystical rock-worshipping aura of our body chakras. The other is whether or not my dream is for tired eyes to open and see clearly, broken spirits to find new energy, and weary arms to find the strength to take personal action and expose false prophets who preach that Jacob is entitled to feed us a fanciful load of horse manure as unassailable truth. If you study his insensate attitudes long enough, you'll come to the inescapable conclusion that when people see superstitious imbeciles behaving like superstitious imbeciles they begin to realize that if you read between the lines of Jacob's anecdotes, you'll undeniably find that Jacob is typical of discourteous zobs in his wild invocations to the irrational, the magic, and the fantastic to dramatize his apothegms. Let's consider for a moment, though, that maybe in legal terminology, Jacob is guilty of suppressio veri or "concealment of truth". Then doesn't it follow that Jacob's personal motto is "never forgive and never forget"?
The whole of Jacob's cuckoo worldview may perhaps be expressed in one simple word. That word is "absolutism". Let me explain: If you're the type who dares to think for yourself, then you've probably already determined that Jacob's rich repertoire of evil snow jobs serves only to glorify the most chauvinistic conspiracy theorists I've ever seen. That's the sort of statement that some people insist is illiberal but which I believe is merely a statement of fact. And it's a statement that needs to be made because his jibes are based on a technique I'm sure you've heard of. It's called "lying".
Jacob, does the word "unexceptionableness" mean anything to you? Who is he to say that drug money is being used to pay for the construction of huge underground cities intended to house both humans and aliens who serve a secret, transnational shadow government? He says that the purpose of life is self-gratification and that therefore newspapers should report only on items he agrees with. Hello? Is Mr. Logic down at the pub with a dozen pints inside him or what? Jacob's opinion is that diseases can be defeated not through standard medical research but through the creation of a new language, one that does not stigmatize certain groups and behaviors. Of course, opinions are like sphincters: we all have them. So let me tell you my opinion. My opinion is that Jacob has been using all sorts of jiggery-pokery to convince people that the best way to serve one's country is to declare that there is an international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids. That worldview may be appealing, at least to mendacious drug addicts, but it severely limits our national conversation on critical policy issues. Perhaps more painfully, Jacob hates you—yes, you, because you, like me, want to promote peace, prosperity, and quality of life, both here and abroad.
Given what we know about Jacob's picayunish fulminations, I'd say that his recent use of solipsism to marginalize dissident voices is about par for the course. Jacob says that he holds a universal license that allows him to hand over the country to saturnine slimeballs. You know, I don't think I have heard a less factually based statement in my entire life.
We have a dilemma of leviathan proportions on our hands: Should we halt the adulation heaped upon volage-brained bullies, or is it sufficient to create and nurture a true spirit of community? Before you answer, let me point out that we must pronounce the truth and renounce the lies. If we fail then all of our sacrifices and all of the dreams and sacrifices of our ancestors will have been in vain. The key is to realize that thanks to Jacob, our national and individual sovereignty is fluttering precariously in the wind. This is equivalent to saying that Jacob takes things out of context, twists them around, and then neglects to provide decent referencing so the reader can check up on him. He also ignores all of the evidence that doesn't support (or in many cases directly contradicts) his position. I have a problem with Jacob's use of the phrase, "We all know that…". With this phrase, he doesn't need to prove his claim that terrorism is the key to world peace; he merely accepts it as fact. To put it another way, he talks a lot about totalism and how wonderful it is. However, he's never actually defined what it means. How can Jacob argue for something he's never defined? I wish I had a lot more time to answer that question. Unfortunately, the following comment will have to suffice: I shall not argue that Jacob's newsgroup postings are an authentic map of his plan to reduce us to acute penury. Read them and see for yourself. Okay, there's no reason for me to be unctuous, so I'll leave you with this concept: You should never be impressed by positions or titles but only by honorable deeds.

Criterion City V002

After a brief Hiatus to work on my entry for the Game Chef Competition I have done some more work on Criterion City(I really need a better name for it...). So without further ado here is Criterion city V002.

CriterionCityV002]


I changed a few of the conflict mechanics, and added a lot more on the City creation side of things. let me know what you think of it, and the changes i have made!

Game Chef 2012

I have just submitted my game design for this years Game Chef competition. Overall I think I have a decent game idea. I am now waiting for the next phase to move forward. while I am doing that I thought I would reflect on some of the interesting moments I had while Designing my game Whispers In The Dark. Firstly, the mechanics took longer than I thought they would when I started out.

On the start of my design I knew that I was going to be using a card mechanic in the game. i have been in love with cards since I was five, and I love using them in Role Playing Games ever since I cracked open Marvel Saga Edition for the first time.

Originally I was going to go with a very simple mechanic. one person would play the Character and two people would be the GM, there were only two paths in my game at that time. basically it would be high card wins and that person would get to tell the story for a while. it worked, but there was no strategy and no real skill involved.

I had two major breakthroughs that really cleaned up my design. First, I realized that the character was a hindrance and so got rid of him. the second was breaking the game down into four parts. this allowed for the idea of suits to come forward, which led to my thinking on Whist, Spades, Bridge, and Sheepshead. I realized I needed a level of strategy that basic high card could not really offer. so I added trump cards.

originally each player would have their own trump, but that idea lasted...not long. it was a bad idea. it led me to the idea of rotating trump. which I think is interesting. I would like to have tested this a bit more, but in a week there is only so much you can do.

the dismissing of the character as a player option really opened up the game for me. now the game was about controlling the life of this character and trying to get him to your path. there are four paths in the game each is illuminated by a Lantern. each lantern tries to get the player to go down that specific path.

The game title came out of my own life in a lot of ways. Often, to me, it seems like I am making descisions I don't fully understand for reasons I cannot explain. this game is very close to an autobiography in that regard. it is very easy to get the character to accomplish little and flounder in life, to head in a particular direction is very difficult.

Overall I would have to say that the biggest surprise for me was that I came close to the 3000 word limit, hitting 2528 words. that blew me away as I am usually really bad at writing.

Here is my game submission should any one like to look at it.

Whispers In The Dark

I have Made a rough(very rough) version of the character sheet for Criterion Sheet. Here it is:
Criterion City Character Sheet Mark 1

Criterion City Pt. 3: Finally a First

I finished My first draft of Criterion City. I would love to here your thoughts on it. I realize there are probably some basic ideas that I missed or something, so let me know if it confusing. also if you want to playtest it I would love to hear how it went. I have only run a few games so far...seems to work.


CriterionCityV001

Criterion City Pt. 2: Think of a wonderful thought

So the core mechanic is thus: Only roll dice when the challenge is a contest between two beings. there are no static numbers. You roll two six-sided dice in a standard action, then you add your power(if it is relevant), a memory(if it is relevant and only one memory per roll), and any external dice(places have descriptors that add dice, as do weapons, clothing, and other unique things). Add all those together and compare it to the roll of your opponent. high roll wins.

Conflict is parsed out in three rounds, win two out of three and you win the conflict. The winner gets to place a descriptor on the opponent's character. This can be avoided through escalation. If you lose you can choose to escalate and start another three round conflict, however the loser of this conflict steps down one of their dice and the winner gets to place a descriptor on the loser. You can try once more should you lose this conflict. when you escalate for the third time the result is the end of your character. that character cannot be played again should you lose.

so that is the core mechanic(for now).

I will start tomorrow on statting up some NPCs and some of the locations in Criterion City as well as example descriptors and the like, maybe even character creation.

Criterion City Pt. 1: Big O Inspired by Godot

I was listening to an old episode of The Master Plan and it mentioned A Penny For My Thoughts. This got me thinking about Big O. To be fair, I have only watched a couple of episodes of it. I really liked what I saw. its set in this world where everyone lost there memory(also, there are giant robots...yeah). Also I just had finished reading through Waiting For Godot, which has a great deal to say about memory and life and death. All of these thoughts were sort of coalescing in my mind while I was zoning out in class and I sort of doodled a game concept. It is not done yet, and I would like thoughts on it, but here is what I have so far:

Last year everyone within Criterion City awoke with no knowledge of who they were. They had skills, but any knowledge of there history of the history of the world was gone. A few of them became something more. They became the Arete.

The Dome surrounds Criterion City. All that is known is that it cannot be breached. We cannot leave the city. The Wraiths are the only beings to enter or leave The Dome. The Wraiths come to attack the city. We seek our past. And in finding that, we may know our future.

We live in the city of now, the city of here. there is no tomorrow, for yesterday is a void.

The game is set to have two kinds of stories intermixed. The first is over the top super-powered action. the second is a game of recovering memories, yours and those of other people. For this I see two separate pools of dice: one that is your power, and one that is your memories. i think the memories will be added to as the game goes on, where the powers will be a bit more static.

You will play one of the Arete. you have power and something about you stands out from the crowd.

Your memories will be represented by a series of images, decided by the other players. they represent those things which resonate with your character's soul. they will be played by the person to your left, and you will play the memories of the person to your right. Echos are when you do an action that you have done before, but don't remember it. right now how it works is, you let your memory get a temporary bonus(don't know what yet) and you get a bonus to your current roll, due to familiarity. I don't have a whole lot more than that about it at the moment.

The powers will be dice that you can add to your actions that allow you to do the impossible. I have been playing a lot of cortex plus recently so I am kind of loving having multiple kinds of dice and the concept of steeping up dice has been interesting to me since I read the first iteration of Deadlands. When you help another person get a memory back, you can step up a power. If you defeat a Wraith permanently you gain a memory and step up a power.

When you make your character ask these questions:

• Where did you wake?
• What were yo wearing?
• Who were you with?
• How old do you appear?
• How did you react to that?
• What skill, or skills became immediately apparent?

I want these questions to be mechanically important as this is about all the character's know of themselves. I am still working on it. These are the things that they will cling to.

This is crucial: The Wraiths know your history. The know who you are.

There are no history books. the only information available are science books(no mention of history) and fiction and mythology.

I will need to define the city a bit more, though I would like it to be fairly minimalist. also I think there will be some sort of Pro Tem government, though I have not worked that out yet.

Here are some of the random thoughts that influence me about this game, maybe they will help you understand what I am trying for:

• Without a past experience, we are doomed to repeat our actions.
• Without a past the present has no meaning.
• Life becomes circular.
• The things you do remember take on incredible significance.