What's in my nexus

Tonight, with some nerd people at school, I watched Star Trek Generations.  It's not the best Star Trek movie, but it's got it's moments.  One big plot point made me wonder.

Spoilers for a movie that came out in 1993.

The goal of the evil scientist Sauron is to get this nexus ribbon of infinite happiness to him efficiently, regardless of who has to die in the process.  He's even willing to destroy solar systems to this end.  At one part of the movie he does succeed and Picard, who has been dreaming of carrying the family line recently, gets pulled into the Nexus as well.  Here's part of that sequence if you would like to take a gander.  

Picard not only gets the family he wants, but gets to see the nephew that just died in the beginning of the movie (Renee) alive and well.  In this nexus, you are in a heaven that goes forwards and backwards in time.  You can go and do (or even redo) everything you've ever done or wish to do.  You can also exit the nexus into whatever time period you want.  Picard does the honorable thing and goes back with help to save the Enterprise and a solar system, instead of staying with the family of his dreams.

This turns into a great question: What is in your nexus?  What would you be reliving or doing in your personal time-traveling heaven?

Me personally?  I think I would have it so my maternal grandfather was alive and well, and that I was able to talk to him, and hear him share his stories.  I never got to know him but I know he's a big reason why I am the way I am today, and due to his lack in health late in his life I never got to know him.  I would go back and have all the time I know I'm missing out of from someone who would've been a wonderful grandfather.  I might even go to before I was born to see some of the great things he did around the civil rights movement in chicago, and then go forward again in time to ask him questions about it specifically.

What about you all?  Apparently a good number of you read this, so what would be your nexus?  Email me (d20sapphire@gmail.com) what your nexus would be and I will post the answers up on the next blog, anonymously if you want me to.  Keep in mind it's not just what your heaven would be, but what your heaven would be if you would jump forward or back in time.

I'm excited to see what people respond with!  

Why I Now Want Prototype

I've been keeping up with Prototype passingly. I've read a lot about it and I've watched some game play videos that look extremely promising. However, it wasn't until this trailer that I decided to buy it when it comes out.





This story looks amazing. For those of you who don't know, the main character finds out about the story by killing people who are involved with maintaining a viral outbreak in New York City. Because of his supernatural abilities, he's able to absorb their memories and their skills when he kills them. This is how the player finds out the background to everything. This conspiracy story on top of the outbreak story is very captivating, and anytime there is a mystery I want to know why things happened the way they did.

This is why I play video games: they are interactive storytelling. You could also say that's why I play RPGs as well. Even in video games where your fate is essentially sealed, you still have fun experiencing the journey and knowing you invested in it.

I wonder if Prototype will still want to release in June given the current swine flu situation, that may become a pandemic. I try not to think about that because at this point the only thing I can do is wash my hands and hope nobody in my campus is unfortunate enough to catch it.

Either way, I want to play Prototype as soon as it comes out.

Dinosaurs died off by lizard flu instead?

This article on the Times website is somewhat interesting. Basic gist: The asteroid may not have killed the dinosaurs.

I'm still sticking to the asteroid theory until there's a better explanation of why things are different at the impact site then they are at every other part of the world. But you got to love science's prevailing need to know the absolute truth!

D&D stories

Friday, which is game day for D&D, was ridiculously gorgeous on my campus. I was kind of sad I was stuck indoors planning a significantly epic battle for my PCs, but a Dungeon Master has to make that sacrifice. I went to the office where I work at school and sat in the back, helping out a little while figuring out stats and rolling dice.

On my way over to the dorm where I play every friday, I passed this couple with two young kids, one of which was a four year old boy. Gave them a smile and the little boy goes to his dad "what does she have in her hand?" I heard and turned around and the dad goes "I don't know, why don't you ask her?" I try to be receptive to questions, especially from little kids who haven't learned to restrain them yet.

I go over and unroll my battle map, the thing the boy saw in my hand. "It's a map sheet. I use it to make maps when I want."

He goes, "Well sometimes my daddy plays Dungeons and Dragons."

"That's exactly what I was going to do."

Chatted a little with the dad who wished me a good game. It was just so adorable to see a kid that young say "Dungeons and Dragons" so clearly. Young nerds in the making. I think the kids mom was also surprised to see a woman who is into the whole thing. Hey, us nerd women are out too, and I hope also to have little children someday that will watch as I roll my dice and have epic fictional adventures with friends.

Friday was a great game day. The whole three years of me planning this game had been building up to this: Battling a woman who wanted to be the reincarnation of Vecna, using both the Hand and the Eye of Vecna in the ritual. The stakes were high, and I really didn't put this battle in their favor. My players are pretty smart, so usually things don't go the way I imagined them too. I like it though, it keeps me on my toes.

Only one player actually died. Another one got to -9 hitpoints, so it was tense, but one actually died. The player proceeded to not care about the rest of the story at all. I was kind of disappointed, because this was all stuff that he had been investigating since the beginning of the campaign (being one of the two original players left in my campaign), and he was just apathetic and played on his computer. I shouldn't let computers at the game table anyway, because they can be super distracting. Everyone else there was pretty engaged, even when there were moments where their characters were not involved, and they were overhearing me do something else with another character. So I'm pretty sure it means I'm not a good DM. It just bums me out if someone doesn't seem as interested as I am about something I made for their enjoyment.

Although the big fight (or at least, the first big fight) is over, the politics aren't over yet! The Queen of the kingdom my PCs work for may have to be executed because of the whole debacle. Oh no! I'm really excited for next session. I think it will be the best mix of fighting and role-playing.

Hardcore Nerd Suffering

I'm sorry, but this is hilarious.

World's Largest Cheeto and the Optimus Maximus from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

You have to give him credit, he finished that cheeto. Or whatever the hell that was.

An open letter to Apple

Dear Apple, specifically those at apple that regulate iPhone applications,

You would think that one would see the problem with allowing an application through your device where the player's sole goal is to shake a baby.  Especially if you don't want to be associated with violence towards children.  However, you let that slide.  What were you thinking?  Enjoy the public relations storm this will result in.  

Love, d20 Sapphire

p.s. Still glad I didn't feed into the hype and got your phone.

*****

There is some talk on Game Politics about censorship here.  Some people claim that this game shouldn't be censored at all.  But Apple is a private organization, hence they can choose what applications are sold on their sites.  Don't shame Apple for pulling the game (albeit, twice since it got put back on again) since it's not squandering anyone's freedoms.  

Another question going around is if there's something wrong with a game like this, or is it all just in fun?  Well it depends on how you feel about video games.  If you feel games should be treated amorally, and are purely there for enjoyment, then there's nothing wrong with this game existing.  However, if video games are to be amoral, and hence not start a conversation within you about your morals, it makes it harder to argue that video games should be perceived as art.  Art, or should I say the majority of art, is supposed to interact with your senses and your beliefs.  A lot of art is disturbing as well as pleasing, both for their own reasons.  For those of you who don't believe me, read the play Marat/Sade.  It's a beautifully disturbing play with a message about revolution.  It's art meant to make you think, despite some of the horrid subject matter.

Hence, to no longer judge video games morally is to lose the idea of video games as art.

They jiggle!

I'm not a stickler for graphics in video games, and this video shows partly why.

Note: They took down the video on gametrailers.com, and I can't find the footage anywhere else.  As soon as I find it again, there will be another video/link.

I have no problem with Batman kicking ass in the upcoming Arkham Asylum game, I have every problem with the way the baddies jiggle as soon as they fall.  The realistic graphics look great until the insane inmates wiggle like jello on a china plate.  The illusion is gone!  Sometimes I wish there was no attempt at making games as realistic as possible, because it's almost impossible to given what we have.  I can be immersed in a game without the action happening on my tv look like the real world.  And despite how hard developers try, it never looks quite real anyway.

However, I do like their modernization of Harley Quinn.  And the game looks like it has potential to be pretty sweet.  Just those friggin' rag doll mechanics look awful to me.  

Sims 2 and RPGs

As an avid RPG fan (who will be more avid once she has time to enjoy them on the weekends) I love seeing the characters I create in certain systems come to life.  A lot of the time that means playing the character in game.  This is always fun.  However, I use one of my other loves, the Sims 2, to bring them to life.

Earlier this year I uninstalled all my sims 2 stuff in hopes of fixing a problem that merely needed a patch from the Aspyr website.  Major fail on my part.  So I decided instead of trying to redo the same town all over again (it was glorious let me tell you, I miss those sims) to make a new town with characters I have created, a lot of them from RPGs, though some from stories and plays I have written.  I have only added a few as of now, but here are the RPG based ones.

The Vidrigez Family

The Vidrigez family is based on the two bad guys that are the center of the plot in my D&D campaign right now.  The characters names in the D&D game are Aust and Jezalin, but in the Sims 2 I made them Austin and Jessica.  In both D&D and in the Sims, these two are madly in love with each other, and madly in love with power.  In the sims I made them fortune sims, so the ambition to get to the top is there.  I haven't supplemented their income with cheats so they're going to have to bust ass.  They both look weird but are attractive in a strange way, so I'm hoping to get some pictures of their kids as soon as they get pregnant.  Also, Jessica, unlike her D&D counterpart, does not possess the hand and eye of Vecna.

Little factoid: sims don't have kids unless you tell them to try, and then there is an 80% chance they will get pregnant.  Failing that three times in a row in practically impossible, but Jessica and Austin did.  I'm afraid I have a sim that's shooting blanks!

The Cornwell Family

The Cornwell's are based on the royal family of the second biggest kingdom in my D&D campaign.  The PCs are essentially employed by them, and are rewarded handsomely for dealing with tons of Yuan-ti and Undead that wouldn't like anything more than to see this family wiped out.  The family in the game is very different than what you see here.  Here you see the King Franklin (Frank in the Sims), his Queen Katherine, their first and only son Ewan, their daughter Elish, and their youngest twin daughters Fiona and Faoiltiarna.  Believe it or not, Faoiltiarna is a real, Irish name.  

The D&D NPC counterparts aren't quite as happy of a family right now.  All the kids are adults, well except for Ewan who died because of his horrible drug habits and such.  The King died due to a horrible cancer that the healers didn't catch until too late.  Elish is now the first reigning Queen, and is dealing with a bloody war (against Vidrigez) along with sexism amongst the nobility in her own Kingdom.  Fiona and Faoiltiarna are more background characters, though Faoiltiarna did get kidnapped once, but was then saved by my PCs.  And one PC is hoping to marry Queen Elish after defeating King Aust.  

Since Katherine is a family sim, I'm sure there will be more siblings coming along.  I just don't know how many more Irish names I can find!

The Scott Family

This family is actually based on one character I played in an Unknown Armies game. Nairobi Scott was actually channelling the Avatar of the Mother (for those of you who don't know, read the Unknown Armies book, it's a fantastic setting.)  She was a foster mother doing it all on her own and loved kids.  She didn't think she could have kids anymore so she decided to be a foster parent, and also worked with kids in a high class day care facility.  She LOVED taking care of kids.  She wanted to make sure every one of them had a good home.  In game she stayed single, all while figuring out about the occult underground while trying to achieve a sense of normalcy in her house.  That didn't work out so well.  In this game she's dating and looking for a man.  That is hard.  Especially since as soon as she's married she's going to want a LOT of kids.  

I may post more about the happenings of these families over time, but this isn't going to become a sims legacy blog or anything like that.  Especially when I get back home and I start to play more on The Boyfriend's 360.  I may not be good at FPSs, but damn are they fun.