tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27422985107165155282024-02-20T13:24:11.267-08:00Faster GamemasterFaster Gamemaster is not short for "Faster, Gamemaster! Kill! Kill!"
<br>
Faster Gamemaster is short for "Faster, cheaper, and out of control Gamemaster."standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-9355715641132662742023-03-15T18:55:00.001-07:002023-03-15T18:55:05.699-07:00Isometric Maps<h1 id="gm-achievement-unlocked-i-create-isometric-maps">GM Achievement Unlocked: I create Isometric Maps</h1><p>I have been having <em>Joy Out Of Measure</em> with two tools for making maps. Today, though, was a massive step forward.</p><p>When my friends and I first started with <a href="https://www.roll20.net">Roll20</a>, my first thought was: “This is totally optimized for combat. Number-crunching combat. Guess all that role-playing and talking and writing is put on hold for a while.” </p><p>My <strong>second</strong> thought was: “This is going to totally drain all my free time as a GM, creating all these high-quality maps. I do not want to go broke trying to find and buy good quality digital maps.”</p><p>Thankfully, two sites have saved my bacon and my wallet. They’re also rather fun to use.</p><p>I’ve done more with <a href="https://inkarnate.com/">Inkarnate</a> at first. I poked around it a bit, and thought, “This is a very good bargain for a year of Pro level access.” I’ve made both regional maps and Roll20 battle maps. I <em>even</em> had success creating the catamaran that the players in my campaign have just boarded and will be on for a session or four.</p><p>My players have to date not seen all the maps I’ve created. They are a <strong>very</strong> intelligent bunch, so I’m not going to give them here additional hints of undiscovered locations. I will show some maps of places they have already encountered or are not likely to reach.</p><p>This is my first cut at a catamaran.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl5b6TFOKtROhSxTkBY2HJw3sj_qRnwDw5QFhxx-5iYCA2uZaszViFpcer-xl9sHQtEViLoztCnNriKnlDy_zXV-zfnpNt-JXc_RoTKxS4ZfGm3gp-LgqidKAxHePKmfsQNxjLTSqqWkr09HW5_7BdnBODeP8YBoiXUoyLGafDd6G3_llptha2SrJw/s2048/Delicat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl5b6TFOKtROhSxTkBY2HJw3sj_qRnwDw5QFhxx-5iYCA2uZaszViFpcer-xl9sHQtEViLoztCnNriKnlDy_zXV-zfnpNt-JXc_RoTKxS4ZfGm3gp-LgqidKAxHePKmfsQNxjLTSqqWkr09HW5_7BdnBODeP8YBoiXUoyLGafDd6G3_llptha2SrJw/s320/Delicat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>This is the first bar I put together, run by a dwarf and made of stone. It’s called the Solid Favour.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZSWnkPOk8jytcH__FD37OAQaSjpA4ksuw62kek8QnFUKzR0RvmTg9huEo4O68CpLIaMlZ8vOJFW6O9XHrt96qN8lfR2tuDa6n5rOrl3ZFWjZmJiHfl3lmh1DNtgzMhdvr9dSpznIfVRfRjwDYTb182h1AD4SnySqDhjz23R8Leb0sUotoMgmuSxV/s2048/Solid_Favour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZSWnkPOk8jytcH__FD37OAQaSjpA4ksuw62kek8QnFUKzR0RvmTg9huEo4O68CpLIaMlZ8vOJFW6O9XHrt96qN8lfR2tuDa6n5rOrl3ZFWjZmJiHfl3lmh1DNtgzMhdvr9dSpznIfVRfRjwDYTb182h1AD4SnySqDhjz23R8Leb0sUotoMgmuSxV/s320/Solid_Favour.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I also am very thankful to have <a href="https://www.dungeonscrawl.com/">Dungeon Scrawl</a>. Dungeon Scrawl makes some things quick and delightful to do. Other tasks are nearly impossible: I spent 45 minutes trying to make the white square in the bottom left room red. I eventually did it, but decided I’d just annotate the square differently next time, or mark it red in Roll20, or something else.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg50FqG4PXP8OMnsxlHiiaauOz2QCKxXf_CP6BLhFcViDSghdOWT_wH50rqiAgKCXY43DohyTqlqjaNKxiKNU7VMGaDUItXVvYDHgFAyVQjMu0EyVm7ug0QR561OaeYNrvNaKWD2m4Dje9-geZrqU0FlpjL9ngmZwEiCVu4qNKdOS5KO1hhg6Zut42l/s2100/scratch_dungeon_20230315_30x25.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1750" data-original-width="2100" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg50FqG4PXP8OMnsxlHiiaauOz2QCKxXf_CP6BLhFcViDSghdOWT_wH50rqiAgKCXY43DohyTqlqjaNKxiKNU7VMGaDUItXVvYDHgFAyVQjMu0EyVm7ug0QR561OaeYNrvNaKWD2m4Dje9-geZrqU0FlpjL9ngmZwEiCVu4qNKdOS5KO1hhg6Zut42l/s320/scratch_dungeon_20230315_30x25.png" width="320" /></a></div>The <strong>truly outstanding</strong> achievement I unlocked today, though, is something I have always thought was beyond my skill set:<p></p><p><i>Isometric maps</i>.</p><p>I remember looking at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravenloft_%28module%29">Ravenloft</a> in 1983 (or, rather, peeking over the shoulder at the GM’s copy in 1984) and being stunned by the utility of the isometric maps that module had. I thought, “Wow! Those must be really hard to make!”</p><p>My pride at creating my first isometric map in Dungeon Scrawl fills my house today. I normally make a throwaway map when I try something new. Today, though, my first cut at an isometric map was for a setting my players will ideally reach. That first cut worked so well, I’m keeping it hidden. I have created a second isometric map to prove I can actually do it to anyone reading this blog. This map is a hasty slap dash born of memories of the shopping malls in the suburbs near where I grew up.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpBUy0rg0dnOKshV1uFIUpAhCH9XWMt7u4YMhudS80VZfYmM5-z8DF7a6LoYh_JOBXjYEswWUPDxd4SztePhsKaRNNYqUg_Qx_Iy-nYFsR42vGYybrBcMMVNuwhq4LV3U9PJXUgKEjVTb1uDq-oe6iprEGbByM4onVxS9DorDtqNxOxeVnQSMCMmi/s1633/totally_first_isometric_39x6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1257" data-original-width="1633" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpBUy0rg0dnOKshV1uFIUpAhCH9XWMt7u4YMhudS80VZfYmM5-z8DF7a6LoYh_JOBXjYEswWUPDxd4SztePhsKaRNNYqUg_Qx_Iy-nYFsR42vGYybrBcMMVNuwhq4LV3U9PJXUgKEjVTb1uDq-oe6iprEGbByM4onVxS9DorDtqNxOxeVnQSMCMmi/s320/totally_first_isometric_39x6.png" width="320" /></a></div>My map making skills are only going to improve. I am very thankful to have found these tools, and to have an opportunity to build with them.<p></p>standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-50967203692154107812023-01-15T20:05:00.003-08:002023-01-15T21:31:17.023-08:00For Maximum Fun, Follow the Instructions<div style="text-align: left;">This Gamemaster is overjoyed to have run two sessions of Fun City to date. Overall the prognosis is good. The campaign looks healthy, there is no shortage of players expressing interest in participating, and everyone is having a good time.</div><p>Last session had two serious challenges attacking the level of fun around the virtual table. To address this, a royal commission was struck. Today the findings can be made public.</p><p>Let’s address the two major considerations that came out of the last two gaming sessions one at a time.</p><h2 id="the-players-found-it-hard-to-see-everything-at-once">The players found it hard to see everything at once</h2><p>More than one player said something along the lines of “I cannot see everything all the time for all characters” or “I found it hard to know what was attacking.” With Dynamic Lighting and limited vision and barriers to sight, the characters had limited visibility. This led to the players having limited awareness.</p><p>Partly this is by design. The Gamemaster has paid some coin to Roll20 to explore their Dynamic Lighting feature. I did this to push the edges of what the VTT offered, and to instill fear and terror in the players. The dark is meant to be scary, and not seeing how many opponents there are is meant to be disconcerting.</p><p>However, the game is still meant to be fun. This Gamemaster is willing to concede that particularly with the most recent battle against the animated skeletons in the crypt, the terror sliding scale may have been set too far in the “Stark Raving” direction and needs to be pulled back to the “Giggling” setting.</p><p><b>Plan for next time:</b> Instead of Dynamic Lighting, the Gamemaster will set the map underground to Explorer Mode. Intent here is that everything is blacked out and hidden until one player explores it. After one player has seen it, all players have seen it. We can try it. Perhaps for the most scary dungeons underground the Gamemaster will go back to Dynamic Lighting.</p><h2 id="the-gamemaster-reported-poor-system-performance">The Gamemaster reported poor system performance</h2><p>Roll20.net quit once on the Gamemaster. Browser just said "No!" and went away. The site was very slow the rest of the evening. The “Spinning Beach Ball” showed up much more frequently than requested.</p><p>After a thorough investigation (and by that I mean “actually reading the site instructions” on <a href="https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/articles/4561713767703#limit-page-map-size-0-5">Graphics Performance Troubleshooting</a> and <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Optimizing_Roll20_Performance">Optimizing Roll20 Performance</a> ) a number of solutions presented themselves:</p><ol type="1"><li><p><em>Stop using Dynamic Lighting.</em> Yes, yes, yes. Already addressed above. We’ll try that route.</p></li><li><p><em>Limit the number of lines on Dynamic Lighting.</em> Essentially this means the room with the skeletons, which had lots of pillars, puts more load on Roll20.net than a standard box of a room. Understood, but some rooms have to be complicated to contain complicated threats.</p></li><li><p><em>Reduce number of light sources.</em> Check. Install <em>Gust of Wind</em> traps to blow out torches, leaving the Player Characters in the dark. I can do that.</p></li><li><p><em>Reduce number of tokens that have vision.</em> This one I had not thought of. Currently the game has seven players and two of the PCs have animal companions or familiars. I thought about introducing a deposit of $150K to reduce the number of active Player Characters. That kind of goes against the spirit of Fun City, though.</p></li><li><p><em>Keep map sizes small.</em> Aha! Here we go! <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Optimizing_Roll20_Performance">One page</a> lists a default size of 20 cells wide by 20 cells tall. <a href="https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/articles/4561713767703#limit-page-map-size-0-5">Another page</a> says:</p><p>Maps or pages are typically recommended to be 25 x 25. As the map size increases, the effective area that must be rendered increases which can negatively impact performance. This can also be highly subjective to the individual systems used by players in your game.</p></li></ol><p>Aha!</p><p>The first map used by the Gamemaster, created with <a href="https://inkarnate.com/">Inkarnate</a>, was 40 cells wide by 40 cells tall. This was the surface map of Fort Runefort.</p><p>The second map, the one of the crypt beneath Fort Runefort, was 52 cells by 67 cells, and was created by <a href="https://www.dungeonscrawl.com/">Dungeon Scrawl</a>.</p><p>Personally, I blame the tools, for being so delicious and wonderful to use. The Gamemaster got carried away</p><p><b>Plan for next time: </b>Maximum map size with Dynamic Lighting enabled will be twenty-five cells in any one dimension.</p><p>That sounds like fun.</p><hr />standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-73543108184848817272022-12-23T08:44:00.002-08:002022-12-23T10:14:03.239-08:00Campaign? No. One-off? No. It’s a Bash!<p>I sent out invitations to “Fun City” and one of my dear friends wrote
back:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is this intended to be an ongoing campaign or a one off? I admit to
being sorely tempted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>First: Small Victory Dance! Always celebrate when your friends
express interest in what you write.</p>
<p>To answer his question: “Fun City” is a Pathfinder First Edition
campaign. It is not a One-Off. I prefer the term <code>bash</code> as
in: “Fun City will be the latest <em>bash</em> set in County
Playground.”</p>
<p>Let’s take those one at a time.</p>
<p>“Fun City” is a <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_%28role-playing_games%29">campaign</a>
because it is a continuing set of interwoven adventures. Each single
session will be a scene or an act within an overall story arc. “Fun
City” (the Pathfinder First Edition campaign) will also span multiple
playing sessions as the Player Characters learn more about “Fun City”
(the place).</p>
<p>However, it’s going to be the most flexible and forgiving campaign
I’ve ever run, for a number of reasons.</p>
<ul>
<li>I expect some of the players will drop in and drop out, as everyone
has different demands on their time. I want to be flexible and accepting
of player schedules.</li>
<li>The last campaign I ran, I got deeply caught up in the background
details and tried to, uh, make them the foreground of what the players
faced. I’m not sure how successful that was.</li>
<li>I put a lot of pressure on myself to have a deeply compelling
complicated campaign last time. Not going to do that to myself any
more.</li>
<li>This time around, I intend to stratify and simplify the setting. I’m
still enthusiastic the setting. I will provide background details <em>if
the players want them</em>, while the majority of my efforts will be
focused on “let’s have a simple and fun time <em>tonight</em> with the
game pieces in front of us.”</li>
</ul>
<p>A One-Off, by contrast, is meant to be a single self-contained
adventure. Ideally a one-off lasts a single session. “Make It Big,” the
last one-off I ran, went for two sessions. I guess that says something about
my skill at estimation. I estimate I can only get better.</p>
<p>I considered running a sequence of unconnected one-off sessions for
“Fun City” and decided against it.</p>
<ul>
<li>My personal preference is to build a setting full of interesting
people, places and things, all connected. With a campaign, it’s easier
to share my enthusiasm for that unified setting.</li>
<li>Some of the players may drop in and drop out, but some will want to
game regularly. For those regulars, I want to provide an opportunity to
take a character from Level One up to Level Double Digits. That “growing
a character” is something I always enjoyed as a player, and I want to
provide that as a GM.</li>
<li>It’ll be easier for players to contribute to a setting they’re
familiar with.</li>
<li>I have the time and resources to prep a campaign.</li>
<li>I want the game world to be internally consistent. A campaign just
logically seems to flow from that.</li>
</ul>
<p>The noun <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bash#Noun">bash</a>
is what I think of in my head, though, when I think of what I’m doing.
Instead of “a campaign set in County Playground” or “a one-off set in
County Playground” I consider what I’m doing as the latest <em>bash</em>
set in County Playground. All three of the definitions for that noun
line up in a way I admire.</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>(informal) A forceful blow or impact.
<ul>
<li>Just to be clear, I am not advocating in favour of hitting players
here.</li>
<li>The Player Characters, on the other hand, frequently give and
receive bashes with the NPCs. Often to much merriment.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>(informal) A large party; a gala event.
<ul>
<li>There might be eight characters at the first “Fun City” session.
That there’s a large adventuring party.</li>
<li>I like attending a gala event. Hosting them, too.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>(UK, informal, often in the phrase ‘have a bash’) An attempt (at
doing something).
<ul>
<li>Yeah, that also tracks. I am making an attempt at creating maps, at
trying new tools and using existing tools in new ways, at evoking an
engaging setting, at showing my friends a good time.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<p>When I was pulling together this blog post, this diagram came to
mind:</p>
<pre><code>Complete Where The GM hands your PC his lines
Extemporized this Bash and a script. "Your cue is
Chaos probably lands when the dragon bites you."
| | |
V V V
+---------------+---------------------------------------------------+</code></pre>
<p>I am not enthused about running a series of unconnected one-offs like
the far left would imply. County Playground is already plenty comical
because, hey, that’s how I roll. Some structure would help.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I don’t want to veer too far to the other end and
structure out everything.</p>
<p>The final point I wish to make here is that in preparing for this I
found email messages from November of 2007, back when I had a different
setting but the same comic tone. It warms my heart to think of every
dice roll, every pun, every word written in every email or blog post and
every word shared across a gaming table for the last few decades
contributes to a fulfilling time. I reserve the right :-) to throw out
all the terms used above and say that I’m working on a <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism">Pointillist style of
RPG Gaming</a> and I hope you’ll contribute to the art.</p>
<hr />standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-20056770083998518252022-12-19T22:55:00.001-08:002022-12-19T23:04:28.420-08:00Moderating My Desire For Crunchiness<p>I like role playing games that are <a
href="https://geek-craft.com/crunchy-like-tacos-gaming-terms-defined/#:~:text=Crunchy%20%2F%20Heavy%20%2F%20Filler%20%2F%20Light,aspect%20to%20the%20game%20play.">crunchy</a>,
like Pathfinder First Edition. I could extend that word from <a
href="https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1762473/article/25618596#25618596">crunchy
RPG games</a> to include other interests. I prefer Linux over other
operating systems, Vim over other editors, and extensive world building
in my RPG settings. I like getting into the details.</p>
<ul>
<li>I like figuring out how <a
href="https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/88071/18526">big a
flying castle has to be to feed air cavalry</a>.</li>
<li>I like <a
href="https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/83833/is-there-a-comprehensive-list-of-languages/83834#83834">digging
into the core of Pathfinder rules to determine how many languages there
are</a>.</li>
<li>I like having a highly detailed story behind the setting of my
campaign world.</li>
<li>I like having maps in my games.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="occasionally-this-has-led-to-problems">Occasionally this has led
to problems</h2>
<p>Obsessing over the details can slow things down. Some examples:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Let’s say this is the first time you are playing Pathfinder 1e. You
learn that you could do a Full Round Action, a Standard Action, a Move
Action, a Swift Action, a Free Action, an Immediate Action, and/or something
that is Not An Action. By the time you finish understanding all of that,
I would bet it is next week.</li>
<li>I did up a campaign, and created a Epub book as a guide for my
players to create PCs, and <em>I gave the book an ISBN</em>. Because I
thought I might sell that Epub book on Amazon to… someone…. The logic of
that escapes me now.</li>
<li>I am the GM who likes drawing up a wiki that details out how the
opponents fight with each other, manipulate their underlings, and
motivate the characters. After a long day at work, coming back to this
once a week, it’s doubtful my players have the same enthusiasm for this
exposition that I do. I remember vividly the night I was trying to rush
through some world building to force a plot point and one of my players
in my gaming group said, “Please. It is <em>too much</em>.”</li>
<li>I like role playing games. In a pandemic, my group has shifted to
Virtual Table Top games like Roll20. This expects a map. I’ve created a
lot of pressure on myself to produce “High Quality” maps, so we can
obsess over whether the character is five, ten, thirty or thirty-five
feet from the target monster.</li>
</ol>
<p>That last point is really telling. When I first started playing RPGs,
we sat around a table in a comfortable room. No one in my group could
afford miniatures nor figures, so we played without a map.</p>
<p>We had a blast.</p>
<h2
id="i-have-a-plan-to-solve-the-problems-caused-by-sybaritic-crunchiness">I
have a plan to solve the problems caused by Sybaritic Crunchiness</h2>
<p>I’m staring a new campaign called “Fun City.” My goal with this is to
share my enthusiasm for these topics with my friends, without drowning
anyone.</p>
<p>My specific approaches to achieving this goal:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>I’m going to expect players to drop in and drop out of the campaign.
I’m going to expect new players to join and for familiar players to say,
“I don’t remember who our opponent is, and I’m exhausted. May we wing it
tonight?” And we will wing it, and <em>that will be okay</em>.</li>
<li>I’m going to leave the background for the campaign in the
background. If the players ask, I will answer their questions. If they
don’t ask, I will let the campaign world simmer, and eventually turn it
into a novel or six.</li>
<li>I’m going to work on a small number maps, not a volume of maps.</li>
<li>The maps I do work on will be of varying levels of quality. <em>That
is okay.</em> The initial maps might take a while to get adequate. Later
maps will be better and will be done in a shorter amount of time. All
art works that way. At least, the majority of art that I produce has
worked that way.</li>
</ol>
<p>In the past, I’ve started a campaign, devoted time and energy to the
details, set unrealistic expectations for everyone, and felt burnt out.
I’d like to break that habit.</p>
<p>I started a new job in October of 2021. It’s fulfilling, but so often
I find myself looking at the task list in front of me and thinking, “I’d
rather be Gaming with my friends.” When I dig into <strong>why</strong>
I’d rather be Gaming, <em>what specifically</em> I like about RPGs and
Pathfinder and world-building and map making, I find soon enough I can’t
stop thinking about ideas I want to share with my friends.</p>
<p>So, I’m going to moderate my approach. Build something to share, and
<em>always start</em> each session by thinking, “How may I best share
this enthusiasm I have with my friends?” The best nights in the past
have come from that starting point. Future sessions will grow out of
those seeds of enthusiasm. I will build a city one piece at a time,
and the end product will be fun.</p>
<p>Fun City, here we come!</p>
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-49368963713392742012021-12-29T11:36:00.003-08:002021-12-31T14:34:02.048-08:00
<h1 id="this-linux-loving-beta-reader-wants-your-book-draft-in-microsoft-word-format">This Linux-loving beta reader wants your book draft in Microsoft Word format</h1>
<p>A friend I have known for twenty years has completed a draft of a novel. I look forward to being a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_reader">beta reader</a> for this work.</p>
<p>My friend, to whom I shall refer to as <em>M</em>, asked me earlier today:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What format would you like the book in? Word? PDF? Google doc? Pages? Paper? I can generate any output you want from Scrivener (okay, okay. Probably not markdown or LaTeX or anything ‘exotic’.)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This question from <em>M</em> got me asking several other questions.</p>
<p>I am, at my core, a book nerd. For over twenty-five years I have been paid well to be a computer nerd. Occasionally I play at being a gamer nerd hence the title of this blog, but that’s a divergent branch for another blog post. Today I’m going to take everything I’ve learned about tech for the last twenty-plus years and force what I believe about beta reading and book editing through that tech perspective. The end result is ideally a blog post but my metaphor reminds of a machine I once cleaned; it was used to make hamburger.</p>
<p>To squeeze out this delicious meaty repast of well-grounded answers which you, gentle carnivorous reader, will delight in consuming, I shall consider these questions.</p>
<h2 id="how-does-a-book-draft-get-made">How does a book draft get made?</h2>
<p>Well, when a pen and a spiral-bound notebook love each other very much…. nine months later a draft emerges, crying for attention. Actually, I have completed a fifty thousand word draft in thirty days on five separate occasions, so <em>this</em> metaphor has fallen apart faster than an inebriated hookup.</p>
<p>My main point: I prefer to create a <strong>physical</strong> first draft of a book using 250 pages of spiral-bound notebook and a pen with blue ink. There’s usually two paper books, one of 150 pages and one of 100 pages. If I use fancy books, I feel pressure to produce fancy thoughts, so I use cheap spiral-bound notebooks to produce my, er, enlightened bespoke masterpieces. Call each page two hundred words. I try to complete ten pages a day. Get it done fast, get it down, don’t worry about the coherency. Capture the idea, the feeling, the passion within that concept and between those characters. Some days I only get eight pages done. Usually I get ten. If I get eight and change done in a day, then over the course of thirty days that creates 250 * 200 = 50,000 words.</p>
<p>The first problem after that: my handwriting makes the eyes of the reader bleed. The second problem: not all of those fifty thousand words are shining, beautiful, coherent or even worth keeping. The third problem: who wants to receive an unreadable set of spiral-bound notebooks? Probably the same number of people who want to pay to post that package: zero.</p>
<p>So, next comes a second, digital, draft. I transcribe my handwriting into a file in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a> format. I do it myself because at this stage in my writing career I cannot afford the transcription service who could read my chicken scrawls. If I wait a month or two, I have a better sense of what to add (and what to remove) when creating that digital draft. I have a lot more freedom to edit and improve and revise that second draft knowing that there is a physical backup in the spiral notebook. I <em>also</em> adore the comfort of having a completed off-site digital backup in case my paper copies burn away.</p>
<p>So, a digital draft is in place. Now what?</p>
<h2 id="what-happens-during-a-beta-read">What happens during a beta read?</h2>
<p>The beta reader reviews the draft and provides feedback. My favourite questions to ask of a beta-reader include “Where did you stop reading?” and “Which parts were confusing?”</p>
<p>This process goes easier if a set of requirements is addressed:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>The feedback comes in the form of comments.</li>
<li>It should be easy for the beta reader to add the comments.</li>
<li>It should be clear to the author what part of the text is referenced by each comment.</li>
<li>If there is more than one beta reader, there should be a plan to pull all comments by all readers together.</li>
<li>Once all of the conditions above are met, aim for simplicity. If multiple tools can get the job done, choose the least complicated one.</li>
</ol>
<p>As I said above, I’ve been a computer nerd for a long time. I find Linux easy. So, easy is a relative term. “Easy” is a goal we’re seeking here.</p>
<h2 id="what-difference-does-the-file-format-of-the-draft-book-make">What difference does the file format of the draft book make?</h2>
<p>Lots. Exploring the pros and cons of eight different file formats covers the rest of this blog post.</p>
<h3 id="paper-sheets-in-a-box">Paper sheets in a box</h3>
<p>Paper is my favourite way to start to start a book draft. I go back to paper during later drafts, printing off a copy and reading it while annotating a second “outline book” in Post-It notes with improvements.</p>
<p>Pros:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Scale out the display. Instead of looking at my beloved book through a small laptop-sized pane of glass, I can (and have!) spread out a paper draft of a novel across the entire living room floor.</li>
<li>Operating System independent. I can use paper no matter what OS you choose.</li>
<li>A universal transfer format. (As long as we agree that universal here means “you write in a language I can read.”)</li>
<li>Batteries not required. No Internet needed, neither.
<ul>
<li>Works well during power outages.</li>
<li>Works well during ferry trips</li>
<li>Works well at that island retreat you’re staying at where the Internet connection is spotty at best.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Understood by a large swath of humanity.</li>
<li>Well tested. Proven to work for hundreds of years for countless authors and beta readers.</li>
<li>Arguably the lowest initial “up front” cost.</li>
<li>I cannot tell you the last time I had to upgrade the OS on my pen because of some stupid vendor requirement.</li>
</ol>
<p>Cons:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Expensive to transport. One day, I hope to live in the same building as my beta readers, but until then, I will fling bits and use a digital file format.</li>
<li>Difficult to maintain. A single master paper copy is easy to lose, to damage, to destroy, to misplace, or to fragment.</li>
<li>Storage can become challenging. Child, dog, all the other physical papers crowding the shelf and The Ravages of Time conspire to hide that one draft I want.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="markdown-in-vim">Markdown in vim</h3>
<p>This is what I use and love. I’ve raved about it <a href="http://standardeyre.blogspot.com/2017/06/markdown-all-way.html">before</a>. It’s not a good fit here for beta readers, though.</p>
<p>Pros:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Markdown is plain text. I like plain text for editing. I really, <em>really</em>, <em>REALLY</em> cannot emphasize this enough.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a> is essentially plain text with some additions that add some (but not all!) of the structure you’d want. Headings are distinct from list items and both are distinct from emphasized text.</li>
<li>Text files are files I can take anywhere. This is <em>extremely</em> important to me.
<ul>
<li>I wrote a hefty novel in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarOffice">StarOffice</a> format. When the vendor discontinued that software, I had to figure out how to export that to a different format. Eventually I got tired of tasks like that and started writing in Markdown.</li>
<li>I wrote a large wiki of facts about my novel’s setting in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TiddlyWiki">TiddlyWiki</a> format. Platform independent, right? The theory is that all the facts could be stored in a single HTML file; the browser read from and wrote to that file. When the browser vendor discontinued local file system writes, I had to figure out how to export that to a different format. Eventually I got tired of tasks like that and started writing in Markdown.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Page Layout, margins, widows and orphans, and all of that typesetting can come at the end, later, after you’ve decided which words to keep and which to toss.</li>
<li>Text files are going to be with you after vendors discontinue their file formats.</li>
<li>Text files can be read by any of your friends. I’ve written files in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org">OpenOffice</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LibreOffice">LibreOffice</a> format, sent them to friends, who then say, “I cannot read this. Can you send it to me in Microsoft Word?”</li>
<li>Don’t just take my word for it. Some stranger on the Internet :-) <a href="https://prolost.com/blog/fileformats">wrote</a></li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>These Markdown files can be edited anywhere, on any device. You’ll never corrupt or break them. They are future-proof, and infinitely portable. And they sync like butter.</p>
</blockquote></li>
<li>From plain text I can produce any output.
<ul>
<li>With <a href="https://pandoc.org/">Pandoc</a> I can (and have!) taken Markdown input and produced output in the following formats:
<ul>
<li>Microsoft Word .docx</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format">Rich Text format</a> .rtf</li>
<li>digital books .epub</li>
<li>HTML output for web pages</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX">LaTeX</a></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vim_%28text_editor%29">Vim</a> lets me run a wiki and a text editor in one platform-independent tool.
<ul>
<li>I have over a million words accessible in one place.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Vim works through a terminal
<ul>
<li>In theory, this would let someone start an ssh session to a home machine and work on a novel while somewhere else.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<p>Cons:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Vim is not easy to learn.
<ul>
<li>After using it for over twenty-five years, I find it makes everything easier.</li>
<li>The first five years were the hardest.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Comments are not easy for beta readers to create.
<ul>
<li>Comments in Markdown are a confused term.</li>
<li>I want comments from a beta reader. “Commenting out” a line means something different to a systems administrator.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Hard to transport.
<ul>
<li>If my novel is 38 chapters and each has its own markdown file, then you’re sending an archive of files to someone else.</li>
<li>Kind of the opposite of the <a href="https://www.google.ca/docs/about/">Google Docs</a> option below.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<p>If you’ve got a way to change my mind, please let me know!</p>
<h3 id="pdf---adobe-portable-document-format">PDF - Adobe Portable Document Format</h3>
<p>Adobe <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF">PDF</a> has been around since 1992 and is a great way to read documents. I’m highly confident that if you create a file in PDF format and send it to me, what I read will match what you read.</p>
<p>Pros:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Easy to open</li>
<li>Every OS has some sort of PDF viewer</li>
<li>Pagination and page layout is consistent across all Operating Systems.</li>
<li>There is a way to make comments on a PDF file, in theory.</li>
</ol>
<p>Cons:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>No one creates a draft in PDF. One always creates a file in some other format, then creates a PDF output and sends this second file on.
<ul>
<li>That’s creating a second step.</li>
<li>I’m not against multiple steps in practice. Things are easier if we can avoid additional steps.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The author has to have two files open: the commented file to read from, and the source file to incorporate those changes. Additional displays help here. Not everyone has the screen size to make this enjoyable.</li>
<li>PDF comments can get caught up in OS and Adobe details.
<ul>
<li>The ability to write comments to a file, send that commented file back to the author, and have the author read those comments varies from OS to OS.</li>
<li>I’ve had problems with this in the past.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<h3 id="latex">LaTeX</h3>
<p>Pros:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>I can specify in gory detail exactly how I want my document to look.</li>
<li>You can find gems like the <a href="https://ctan.org/pkg/sffms?lang=en">SFFMS</a> typesetting class. As in, write your novel in any kind of plain text, then convert it to LaTeX, then apply this style sheet to handle margins and all the other typesetting details.</li>
<li>Platform independent</li>
<li>Free</li>
</ol>
<p>Cons:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>The reader has to chew through the gory detail of exactly how I want my document to look.</li>
<li>Only typesetters and mathematics professors care for this level of detail.</li>
<li>The <a href="https://ctan.org/pkg/sffms?lang=en">SFFMS</a> class was created in 2003. I’m dubious about how thoroughly it is used these days.</li>
<li>Not easy to set up.</li>
<li>Not easy to become proficient in this.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="pages">Pages</h3>
<p>This brings us to the first product in the set of proprietary vendor tools. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pages_%28word_processor%29">Pages</a> is what <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.">Apple Incorporated</a> calls a word processor.</p>
<p>Pros:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Free with Mac OS once you’ve bought your Mac.</li>
<li>Can open Microsoft Word files in docx format.
<ul>
<li>This allows using the “Comments and Changes” function in Pages to read and write comments on a MS Word file.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<p>Cons:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Not OS independent.
<ul>
<li>Everyone has to have an expensive product from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.">Apple Incorporated</a> to make this work</li>
<li>“Other than accessing iCloud through a browser, there is no program that can officially view or edit a Pages file using Windows or Linux.” - quote from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pages_%28word_processor%29">Pages</a> wiki page.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>So proprietary that <a href="https://pandoc.org/">pandoc</a> cannot create output in “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pages_%28word_processor%29">Pages</a>” format. Pandoc has to create something like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format">Rich Text Format</a> or Microsoft Word format, then import it into Pages, and hope that the formatting and “smart quotes” and such doesn’t get kicked too hard.
<ul>
<li>Note that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format">RTF</a> is itself (a) a proprietary format, and (b) released 34 years ago, and (c) last updated 13 years ago.</li>
<li>This is another reason why I like plain text for editing.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Not easy to work with very very large files in Pages. Also not easy to sew together numerous smaller files.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="scrivener">Scrivener</h3>
<p>I haven’t tried <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrivener_%28software%29">Scrivener</a>, so I should really stop here. I’m putting forth my opinions based on what I’ve read and heard about from second-hand sources.</p>
<p>Pros:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Great way to collect individual ideas, and sort them. (“The Corkboard”)</li>
<li>Supports numerous output formats.</li>
</ol>
<p>Cons:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>See “Pages” above for my rant about proprietary formats. Content in Scrivener is stored in <code>/.scirv</code> format.</li>
<li>I don’t want to spend the money for the licence for a proprietary format.</li>
<li>Personally, I think I have built part of what Scrivener provides using Vim and Markdown.</li>
<li>To the best of my knowledge (and I confess I have not tried this), there’s no way for one Scrivener user to send a draft in <code>/.scirv</code> format to a second Scrivener user.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="google-docs">Google Docs</h3>
<p>What if, instead of moving files around, the draft existed in a single place In The Cloud, and everyone involved in the process worked on the same single draft? Hello, <a href="https://www.google.ca/docs/about/">Google Docs</a>! I have used this at employers for corporate information that was, er, “internal”. (Now I’m wondering <strong>again</strong> about how “internal” your document is when it’s stored In The Cloud.)</p>
<p>Pros:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>If there are more than two people involved, this provides a clear consistent method to ensure everyone is looking at the same copy of the same file.</li>
<li>Free</li>
<li>Easy and straightforward to use.</li>
</ol>
<p>Cons:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li><a href="https://teespring.com/shop/there-is-no-cloud-shirt?pid=2&cid=2397">There Is No Cloud. It’s Just Someone Else’s Computer</a>
<ul>
<li>Do you trust that “Someone Else” with your novel?</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The editor I worked with on my first published work thought the lag with Google Docs was so slow, the editor rejected that option outright.</li>
<li>This goes against how I think.
<ul>
<li>I prefer to think of First Draft, Second Draft, Third Draft, … Final published work.</li>
<li>Google Docs just extends and adds comments to one file, indefinitely, until all parties are exhausted. Or that first file is cropped and a second file is created.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Google is still a vendor. This is still a proprietary product.
<ul>
<li>What happens if/when Google goes out of business? If you tell me Google will never go out of business, I will tell you that Blockbuster was also popular for a while, as were Compact Discs for music.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Not easy to use this once your Internet connection goes out, gets slow, is spotty while you’re at that island retreat writing.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="microsoft-word">Microsoft Word</h3>
<p>Pros:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Used everywhere.</li>
<li>“Track Changes” feature is easy to use for comments and feedback.
<ul>
<li>If you move a block of text within the draft, the comment follows it. Nice.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pages_%28word_processor%29">Pages</a> can use the same “Track Changes” feature that MS Word provides.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<p>Cons:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>I am not a fan of Microsoft</li>
<li>I am not a fan of Microsoft Windows</li>
<li>I am not a fan of the Microsoft Word GUI</li>
<li>Proprietary file format.
<ul>
<li>Microsoft already changed it from <code>.doc</code> to <code>.docx</code> and you just know they’re going to change it again.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<h2 id="final-recommendation-is-microsoft-word">Final recommendation is Microsoft Word</h2>
<p>As a beta reader I would like that draft in Microsoft Word format. I will open the draft in my copy of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pages_%28word_processor%29">Pages</a> and add comments, and <em>M</em> will see my comments when I send it back.</p>
<p>I also reserve the right to improve my position on this after time and experience. I mean, that’s what I’ve done throughout my life. Over twenty-seven years ago I wrote a master’s thesis in Microsoft Word, and did not enjoy it, so I started looking for different products. I will keep looking.</p>standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-44283202347025332252021-09-06T18:08:00.004-07:002021-09-08T14:34:53.564-07:00First Post in almost Four YearsI blow the dust off this blog, put the key into the account and get it to turn
over, at least once, after a gap of almost four years. <div><br /></div><div>This blog has been quiet. The good
news behind that is: I've been writing. Completed four more NaNoWriMo-equivalent
drafts, each over 52,000 words, in the last three years and change. One in November 2018, one in June 2019, a third in November 2019 and a fourth in November 2020</div><div><br /></div><div>Next step:
getting much of that <i>published</i>.
</div>standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-24797301224052785152017-11-30T21:56:00.002-08:002017-11-30T21:56:25.489-08:00Novel AccomplishedI've finished 50,100 words for my National Novel Writing Month entry.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJUu3hueF68czKUVs8ROTxANZAFgtPhq7cQtRnk173WVeUJ_I0ic7OV6mdSJlTt_8-ynZh5qnoqNu20M10KJUW72Y_0ON25moLrqlPw4tYdu0hvo1iD0ljF5Xu8oUBLFQGEX_u-YgvGMA/s1600/NaNo-2017-Winner-Badge.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJUu3hueF68czKUVs8ROTxANZAFgtPhq7cQtRnk173WVeUJ_I0ic7OV6mdSJlTt_8-ynZh5qnoqNu20M10KJUW72Y_0ON25moLrqlPw4tYdu0hvo1iD0ljF5Xu8oUBLFQGEX_u-YgvGMA/s320/NaNo-2017-Winner-Badge.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="555" data-original-height="555" /></a></div>
I had a really good time. I thought hard about an outline, I made progress every day, and I have a completed first draft that I really enjoy. It was not easy, fitting the writing of a novel into working full time and raising a family. It was, however, truly rewarding.
Now, to take a deep rest, then Christmas. After that: revising and producing the second draft while finding an agent and a publisher.
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-84495636590161775842017-11-13T13:49:00.001-08:002022-12-19T23:12:46.406-08:00Why All The Silly<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
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<h1 id="why-all-the-silly">Why All The Silly</h1>
<p>Recently I watched <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor:_Ragnarok">Thor: Ragnarok</a></em> in the cinema with my family. I am a fan of the Marvel movies and I enjoyed this movie the best of them all.</p>
<p>I met a good friend of mine a few days later for dinner. He told me that while his wife and daughter went to the film, he decided to skip it because, as he put it, he "thought it looked too silly."</p>
<p>His comment surprised me in three directions. For one, I began to wonder what a Serious Super Hero Movie looked like. I guess that would be <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_(film)">Batman: The Dark Knight</a></em> by Christoper Nolan. Or the Daniel Craig set of James Bond movies, like <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyfall">Skyfall</a></em> or <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(2015_film)">Spectre</a></em>.</p>
<p>For another direction, I wondered about the campaign style I run, and what this friend and the other participants must think of it. My campaign setting is called "County Playground." It is not called "The Suffering of Carlos the Grim on His Descent Into Hell." I'm trusting that at least one of the players will give feedback when I ask for it. I have asked for feedback, and no one has said, "Too Silly. Dial it back."</p>
<p>For a third, I am really enjoying the novel I am writing for <a href="https://nanowrimo.org">National Novel Writing Month</a>. It is not a "GrimDark" tale. It is an adventure comedy in a fantasy setting. When I have bad days, I wonder how it will sell. When I have good days, I ignore whether it will sell or not, and just write.</p>
<p>I can appreciate <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire">A Song Of Ice And Fire</a></em> and the moody television it inspires. Myself, I like to use my free time to make <a href="http://standardeyre.blogspot.ca/2017/05/battle-stove-spectacular.html">stories</a> and role playing game (RPG) campaign settings where the plot, tone, and characters promote laughter, not weeping. Although to be honest, some of the puns do evoke tears.</p>
<p>I read <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/7/16618930/thor-director-taika-waititi-interview-behind-the-scenes-improv-chris-hemsworth">an interview with Taika Waititi</a>, director of <em>Thor: Ragnarok</em>, and thought he said it best:</p>
<pre><code>This film is so bold and colorful and vivid and bright.
It’s a celebration of comic books. I think in this day and age,
when cinema’s so dark and sad, and such a reminder of how
dark and sad the world is, it’s so nice to have a ray of light,
and a movie that makes you smile.</code></pre>
<p>The director's words are on my mind, when I get inspired by <em><a href="https://nicholaseames.com/the-books/">Kings Of The Wyld</a></em> and <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galavant">Galavant</a></em>, and when I work on my own creative pursuits.</p>
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standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-5725863009744019422017-10-29T20:41:00.002-07:002017-10-29T20:41:31.329-07:00Four Books At A Time reviews Battle Stove SpectacularI am very thankful to have received my first book review. <a href="https://fourbooksatatime.blogspot.ca/">Four books at a time</a> was gracious enough to review <a href="http://standardeyre.blogspot.ca/2017/05/battle-stove-spectacular.html">Battle Stove Spectacular</a>.
Please enjoy <a href="https://fourbooksatatime.blogspot.ca/2017/10/battle-stove-spectacular-by-standard.html">the full review</a>. I would like to know what you think.standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-55750605259700746992017-10-21T21:02:00.001-07:002017-10-21T21:02:14.642-07:00National Novel Writing MonthI've created <a href="https://nanowrimo.org/participants/standard-eyre">my NaNoWriMo account</a> and plan to write a novel in November, as part of <a href="https://nanowrimo.org/">National Novel Writing Month</a>.
A short post, this one. More time spent on the outline for the novel, code named <b>EFALS</b>.
I hope your writing is going well!standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-1406847746138947192017-07-05T21:57:00.001-07:002017-07-05T21:57:48.918-07:00Battle Stove Spectacular available through VPL<h1 id="battle-stove-spectacular-available-through-vpl">Battle Stove Spectacular available through VPL</h1>
<h2 id="my-ebook-accepted-to-vancouver-indie-authors-collection">My ebook accepted to Vancouver Indie Authors collection</h2>
<p>It is my delight to announce that my novella <a href="http://standardeyre.blogspot.ca/2017/05/battle-stove-spectacular.html">Battle Stove Spectacular</a> has been purchased by the <a href="https://www.vpl.ca/">Vancouver Public Library</a> as part of the VPL's new <a href="https://www.vpl.ca/indieauthors">Indie Authors</a> collection.</p>
<p>Here is <a href="https://vpl.odilo.us/opac?id=00021415">a direct link to Battle Stove Spectacular in the VPL Indie Authors collection</a>.</p>
<p>I live in Vancouver, B.C. and I am an independent author. The VPL Indie Authors collection gives this mission statement on <a href="https://www.vpl.ca/indieauthors">their site</a>:</p>
<blockquote>As part of our commitment to helping residents share their own stories, Vancouver Public Library is creating a collection of self-published books by local authors. The goal of this collection is to promote local books that might not be available through traditional channels, both to increase exposure for local writers and to increase the selection for local readers. We welcome both print books and ebooks.</blockquote>
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLntZLSs73STO6sTpsvn76PMKIow4Epf_OrrNzTzjmiIN-L8XlMrPXsntqTT3ZOCs-8WuMVyjIX2vhdgepVz_ZsP15NjgfklhNqNzXivw1W3Tez7ulnrAAQzLJCDbsYrM-mcBiOPtUfgs/s1600/20170705_bss_vpl.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLntZLSs73STO6sTpsvn76PMKIow4Epf_OrrNzTzjmiIN-L8XlMrPXsntqTT3ZOCs-8WuMVyjIX2vhdgepVz_ZsP15NjgfklhNqNzXivw1W3Tez7ulnrAAQzLJCDbsYrM-mcBiOPtUfgs/s200/20170705_bss_vpl.png" width="200" height="153" data-original-width="968" data-original-height="742" /></a></div></p>
<p>I hope this encourages you to seek out more ebooks.</p>
<h2 id="more">More</h2>
<p>If you like what I've written here and want to help support future posts, please:</p>
<ul>
<li>Like or Retweet this page</li>
<li>Follow me: on <a href="https://twitter.com/StandardEyre">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/standard.eyre">FaceBook</a>, or <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/107793400322160836775">Google Plus</a></li>
<li>Check out <a href="http://www.standardeyre.com">standardeyre.com</a></li>
<li>Take a look at my contributions to the <a href="https://stackexchange.com/users/6832980/standardeyre">StackExchange</a> collection of sites.</li>
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</ul>
<hr />
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-21669621967741391232017-06-25T15:27:00.001-07:002017-06-25T15:27:50.821-07:00Markdown All The Way<h1 id="markdown-all-the-way">Markdown All The Way</h1>
<p><em>Improvements to how I use Vimwiki</em></p>
<p>I changed the syntax of my Player Information wiki from <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> to <a href="https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax">Markdown</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown">Pandoc flavoured Markdown</a> has support for <a href="http://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#header-identifiers">Header Identifiers</a>; this helps keep internal links working when converting a wiki of several files into one EPUB book.</p>
<p><a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> syntax also allows better support for naming a file with no spaces in the file name, yet allowing titles that have spaces in the file name.</p>
<h1 id="where-i-started-out">Where I started out</h1>
<p>I have two wikis for my one campaign. Both run within <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a>. One for GM eyes only used the traditional <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> syntax. The other, the Public Wiki filled with details for the players (a.k.a. Player Information Wiki), used <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> syntax. In the Public Wiki, I intended to use the <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> "diary" function to build and maintain Chronicle entries.</p>
<p>(As a side note, when I say "Chronicle" what I mean is a record of what happened during the campaign session).</p>
<p>There are a few problems with this approach:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li><a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> has a "<a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> to HTML" function. It only works with <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> native syntax. It does not work if you run your <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> with <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> syntax. Since at the time that I started <a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> did not have a <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> reader, this meant that for <a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> to read wiki data, that "<a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> to HTML" function was a hard requirement.</li>
<li>Running one wiki in one syntax and one in another is a headache.</li>
<li>The diary function creates a subdirectory for diary entries. Having some files in a subdirectory and others out is not an impossible issue. However dealing with links gets more complicated when your hierarchy is not flat.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> and <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> can handle files with spaces in the name (like "Joe Smith.wiki") Shell scripting tools can, too, but it makes for an additional set of headaches.</li>
</ol>
<p>While I love to create, edit, and delete data within <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a>, it's not my final output. I have Vim but not <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> on my mobile phone. I wanted a way to review the Gamemaster notes on my phone.</p>
<p>I studied my use cases and decided there are three sets of output I want to create:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>I want to collect the individual wiki files into one single ePub electronic book, for reference when the Internet is not available. I might also sell that ePub one day.</li>
<li>Most of the Public Wiki detail is going up to a <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> site hosted on the Internet for my players. Maybe.</li>
<li>For the Non-Player Characters in the campaign, I have an idea for how I can create paper miniatures (or "pogs") that match print (PDF) NPC reference sheets.</li>
</ol>
<p>All three of those I intend to treat in more detail in future blog posts. For now, I'll detail what I've changed to.</p>
<h1 id="where-i-am-now">Where I am now</h1>
<p>Today, both wikis are in Markdown syntax, specifically the <a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> flavour of Markdown.</p>
<p>From <a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> Markdown, using <a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a>, I can create any type of output I can think of with a minimum of transitions. Yes, there is a thread within Vimwiki development to using Markdown as the base markup language of Vimwiki. My best estimate is that will be a long time coming. Several of the people who use Vimwiki like the To Do List toggles in Vimwiki native syntax. To the best of my knowledge, <a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> does not provide such a thing.</p>
<p>Related: As of the last two weeks, there is now a <a href="https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/pull/3705">Vimwiki reader in pandoc</a>. This is great for getting data from <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> to Markdown. It doesn't solve the potential problem that I might one day have something in HTML or <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> format and I want to put it <em>in</em> to <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a>. If that source HTML has lots of links, I don't want to break all of those transitioning from one format to another.</p>
<p>Thankfully:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li><a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> supports using a VimWiki in Markdown syntax.</li>
<li><a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> can read and write to Markdown</li>
<li><a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> can create any other format I can think of.</li>
</ol>
<p>I toyed with using Vimwiki native syntax to turn the entire wiki into HTML, then using <a href="https://calibre-ebook.com">Calibre</a> to take a directory of HTML files and turn that into an EPUB. I prefer to use <a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> and Markdown, because:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li><a href="http://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown">Pandoc flavoured Markdown</a> has great, straightforward support for internal links</li>
<li><a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> has great support for metadata blocks in YAML format.</li>
<li><a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> when creating an EPUB can create a Table of Contents with a --toc argument.</li>
<li><a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a> can build the EPUB from the command line. With <a href="https://calibre-ebook.com">Calibre</a>, I was launching a GUI tool.</li>
</ol>
<p>I have a script that will sync one-way the Public Wiki content from files in <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> format up to the <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> site on the Internet. To get the <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">VimWiki</a> details from Markdown to <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a>, I use <a href="http://pandoc.org">Pandoc</a>. No muss, no fuss.</p>
<h2 id="more">More</h2>
<p>If you like what I've written here and want to help support future posts, please:</p>
<ul>
<li>Like or Retweet this page</li>
<li>Follow me: on <a href="https://twitter.com/StandardEyre">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/standard.eyre">FaceBook</a>, or <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/107793400322160836775">Google Plus</a></li>
<li>Check out <a href="http://www.standardeyre.com">standardeyre.com</a></li>
<li>Take a look at my contributions to the <a href="https://stackexchange.com/users/6832980/standardeyre">StackExchange</a> collection of sites.</li>
<li>Add a comment to this page</li>
</ul>standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-61427837800371461612017-05-14T21:00:00.000-07:002017-05-14T21:00:01.584-07:00The Gamemaster awards two extra skill points<h1 id="the-gm-is-kind-the-gm-awards-two-extra-skill-points.">The GM is kind; the GM awards two extra skill points.</h1>
<p>There never seem to be enough skill points in the game for everything I want to do as a player.</p>
<p>Granted, I want to try some pretty strange things as a player. One of my characters wanted to make his own weapons. A second character wanted to build up the Profession: Gambler skill. Yet something like Perception gets used in almost every session, but not every session has gambling.</p>
<p>Now, as a GM, I have an opportunity to change all of that for my players when I run my campaign.</p>
<p>In the character guide I put together, <a href="https://itun.es/ca/agOTeb.l">A PC Guide to County Playground: The Grand Grind</a>, the newest version provides a boon to my players:</p>
<blockquote>I intend to place more emphasis on skills and contacts. Each player is given two bonus skill points at first level; these have to go into a Profession skill, a Craft skill, or the Survival skill. The intent here is twofold: First, the Profession or Craft should help "round out" who the character is and what the character is interested in, making for a more interesting character. Second, the GM will use those interests as plot hooks. For example, a character with ranks in Profession (Sailor) will know other sailors; the GM will use those other sailors as plot hooks.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
To get two bonus skill points at first level in PC Gen, go to "Feats & Abilities" > Misc > GM Awards and choose "+1 Skill Rank" twice</blockquote>
<p>A screen capture of setting this value in PCGen version 6.0 is shown below:</p>
<div class="figure">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_5uFWpKBi5UxdiYmjDV9nEOLTb7keS9nUFilEjVCzzfrIzJT-oagucO5rG8YJBFBM63W80C5Sf2CxAH9db7BrhvVPwkAURO1Mij-Gp21dDcHpObFe0YaibQq56R3J1tfNuiWv469XL4/s1600/20170514_pcgen_gm_award_extra_skill_point.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_5uFWpKBi5UxdiYmjDV9nEOLTb7keS9nUFilEjVCzzfrIzJT-oagucO5rG8YJBFBM63W80C5Sf2CxAH9db7BrhvVPwkAURO1Mij-Gp21dDcHpObFe0YaibQq56R3J1tfNuiWv469XL4/s320/20170514_pcgen_gm_award_extra_skill_point.png" width="320" height="167" /></a>
</div>
<h2 id="more">More</h2>
<p>If you like what I've written here and want to help support future posts, please:</p>
<ul>
<li>Like or Retweet this page</li>
<li>Follow me: on <a href="https://twitter.com/StandardEyre">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/standard.eyre">FaceBook</a>, or <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/107793400322160836775">Google Plus</a></li>
<li>Check out <a href="http://www.standardeyre.com">standardeyre.com</a></li>
<li>Take a look at my contributions to the <a href="https://stackexchange.com/users/6832980/standardeyre">StackExchange</a> collection of sites.</li>
<li>Add a comment to this page</li>
</ul>
<hr />
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-6315106429939646082017-05-12T21:45:00.000-07:002017-05-21T17:07:37.834-07:00Battle Stove Spectacular<p>I am over the moon with excitement to announce that my newest novella <strong>Battle Stove Spectacular</strong> is available on both <a href="https://itun.es/ca/miaRjb.l">iBooks</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0722ZWVWV">Amazon</a> for purchase.</p>
<h2 id="battle-stove-spectacular-description">Battle Stove Spectacular: Description</h2>
<p><em>Battle Stove Spectacular</em> is a short novel of adventure, comedy, fantasy and event planning.</p>
<p>Years of cultivation and negotiation are about to bear fruit. To seal a treaty between the fieldfolk of the Dominion of Cede and his people the elves, the Captain-King of the flying castle <em>Battle Scar</em> asks the greatest chef in the world of Poem to prepare a banquet. A Spectacular banquet. But the old king dies, and young king Corys has other plans for the elves....</p>
<p>Who will help Chef, and who will oppose him? The silver-tongued <em>maître d'</em> who disappears when you need him most? The shy gnome who loves complicated toys? The dwarf with every reason to hate the elves? A demon named Sunshine?</p>
<p>How will Chef defuse the tension and complete the banquet? With skill, friends, and spectacular style!</p>
<h2 id="background-to-the-creation-of-the-novel">Background to the creation of the novel</h2>
<p>I first announced this title in my <a href="http://standardeyre.blogspot.ca/2016/12/how-to-build-county-playground-one-book.html">2016-12-16 blog post</a> "How To Build A County Playground: One Book At A Time." I started the work much earlier, in fact; in March of 2016, while I was trying to find a way to avoid completing course work for a BCIT course in <a href="http://www.bcit.ca/study/courses/comp3912">iOS Application Development</a>. (Still completed the course, got my 'A').</p>
<p>The bigger truth, though, is that this work has been mulling around in my head for a long time, along with nineteen or so other stories. Most of these form the background to a <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinder/">Pathfinder</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game">Role Playing Game</a> campaign setting I run for my friends, called <a href="http://standardeyre.com/poem/">County Playground</a>. My intent is to sew the best twenty of those stories into <strong>The Twenty Tales of County Playground</strong>.</p>
<h2 id="more">More</h2>
<p>If you like what I've written here and want to help support future posts, please:</p>
<ul>
<li>Like or Retweet this page</li>
<li>Follow me: on <a href="https://twitter.com/StandardEyre">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/standard.eyre">FaceBook</a>, or <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/107793400322160836775">Google Plus</a></li>
<li>Check out <a href="http://www.standardeyre.com">standardeyre.com</a></li>
<li>Take a look at my contributions to the <a href="https://stackexchange.com/users/6832980/standardeyre">StackExchange</a> collection of sites.</li>
<li>Add a comment to this page</li>
</ul>
<hr />
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-32107485138086238002017-05-11T21:33:00.000-07:002017-05-11T21:33:45.885-07:00I Support the Down Syndrome Research Foundation<p>For 2017, Standard Eyre Digital Services will donate one hundred percent of all profits to the <a href="http://www.dsrf.org/">Down Syndrome Research Foundation</a>.</p> <p>The staff and volunteers at the DSRF do incredible work to ensure people with Down Syndrome live full and fulfilling lives.</p>
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-33736773245647104162017-04-16T13:38:00.001-07:002017-04-16T13:38:41.773-07:00Distinguishing GM Info from Player Info in VimwikiI write up notes for encounters in my campaign within <a href="https://vimwiki.github.io/">Vimwiki</a>.<br />
Some notes are intended for the Player Characters. The majority of the text is intended for the Gamemaster's eyes only.<br />
My understanding is that the text intended for players is called <a href="https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/98180/27498">Boxed Text</a>. Here's an example of Boxed Text intended for the players:<br />
<blockquote>
"You awake in a room. There are two doors. A hidden voice asks, 'What door will you choose: The Lady? Or the Tiger?'"</blockquote>
The following note is intended for the Gamemaster only:<br />
<blockquote>
"Behind each door is a female tiger. Bad Gamemaster! Sneaky Gamemaster!"</blockquote>
I found it a challenge to keep each type of note distinct within the Vimwiki file. In the paper modules I bought as a teenager, the notes to the players were set off from the rest of the text. A light shade of grey filled the background of these text blocks, the text was indented a small amount, and a black box surrounded this text.<br />
To recreate this effect in Vimwiki, I tried two things.<br />
The first thing I tried was to set the text off in a Vimwiki table.<br />
<pre><code>| First Announcement |
|-------------------------|
| You enter a |
| place filled with |
| twisty little passages, |
| all alike. |</code></pre>
This works okay as long as you are viewing the information within Vimwiki. The problems I had here began when I converted the table to HTML (and from HTML using <a href="http://pandoc.org/">Pandoc</a> to any other format). Vimwiki treats this table as four separate rows. Each line of text gets its own row.<br />
<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>First Announcement
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>You enter a
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>place filled with
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>twisty little passages,
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>all alike.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The HTML for that looks as follows:<br />
<pre><code><table>
<tbody><tr>
<th>
First Announcement
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
You enter a
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
place filled with
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
twisty little passages,
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
all alike.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table></code></pre>
<pre><code> </code></pre>
That's not what I wanted.<br />
<br />
I made an edit to Vimwiki. I forked the project on Github and <a href="https://github.com/standardeyre/vimwiki/commit/7d16330d2f574d08f99846e612185755b366d7ad">added a toggle</a> so that a table with a single column would treat all rows as one single cell.<br />
<br />
The end result was that the HTML when converted looked like I wanted:<br />
<br />
<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>First Announcement
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>You enter a
place filled with
twisty little passages,
all alike.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<pre><code><table>
<tbody><tr>
<th>
First Announcement
</th>
</tr>
<tr><td>
You enter a
place filled with
twisty little passages,
all alike.
</td></tr>
</tbody></table></code></pre>
My pull request to add this feature was not accepted by the current maintainers. So it goes.<br />
<br />
I looked at the existing features of Vimwiki, and I realized I can achieve a similar effect by writing the text in a blockquote. The indentation sets the text off within Vimwiki. The CSS could set the text off when rendered to HTML.<br />
<br />
This block of text in Vimwiki:<br />
<pre><code>
You enter a
place filled with
twisty little passages,
all alike.
</code></pre>
becomes the following<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: #f6f5eb;">You enter a
place filled with
twisty little passages,
all alike.
</span></blockquote>
The HTML for that blockquote looks as follows:<br />
<pre><code><blockquote>
You enter a
place filled with
twisty little passages,
all alike.
</blockquote></code></pre>
The file <code>vimwiki/autoload/vimwiki/style.css</code> contains the following line:<br />
<pre><code>blockquote {padding: 0.4em; background-color: #f6f5eb;}</code></pre>
That helps provide the background shading in the HTML.<br />
So, in the future, GM info will be the default Vimwiki text. Text intended to be read to Player Characters, by contrast, will go between <blockquote> tags.
<br />
<hr />
If you like what I've written here and want to help support future posts, please:<br />
<ul>
<li>Purchase one or more of my <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ca/author/faster-gamemaster/id1152811599?mt=11">Books</a></li>
<li>Like or Retweet this page</li>
<li>Follow me: on <a href="https://twitter.com/StandardEyre">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/standard.eyre">FaceBook</a>, or <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/107793400322160836775">Google Plus</a></li>
<li>Add a comment to this page</li>
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Thanks!standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-84071170534353167142017-03-29T21:52:00.001-07:002017-03-29T21:52:30.853-07:00An Extremely Thin Overview On How I Created And Sold An Electronic Book<p>In 2016 I created, edited and sold my first electronic book, <a href="https://itun.es/ca/agOTeb.l">A PC Guide to County Playground: The Grand Grind</a>. The sales were not astronomical, but they were above zero. I consider that a success. I am enthusiastic about creating and promoting more books.</p>
<p>One of my friends recently asked me: "I was wondering if you can share some wisdom and experience on how to get a book published."</p>
<p>I'm happy to share what I know.</p>
<p>I divide up the work into three categories:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Creating the manuscript: From idea to completed text</li>
<li>Crafting the book: Cover, ISBN, Editor</li>
<li>Promotion of the book: Marketing, finding your audience, making it as easy as possible for people to discover you and to buy your book.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm going to go into more depth on all three of those topics in future blog posts.</p>
<p>Until I get my own experience updated here in mind-numbing detail, I will recommend <a href="http://apethebook.com/">APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur</a> by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch. They have made a thorough, honest and (in my opinion) encouraging overview of what it takes to write a manuscript, turn that manuscript into a book, then promote the book.</p>
<h2 id="physical-and-electronic-books">Physical and Electronic Books</h2>
<p>I'm interested in both paper books and digital books, also called electronic books, ebooks, or iBooks.</p>
<p>Much of what I did, I followed from the examples and recommendations in <a href="http://apethebook.com/">APE</a>. Some specifics:</p>
<h2 id="creating-the-manuscript">Creating the manuscript</h2>
<ul>
<li>Set a specific goal for what the finished manuscript should look like. For me, I wanted a book that was 30,000 words. My finished book was 35,000 and change.
<ul>
<li>The reason this is important is: it helps you know when you are done. Sometimes you write and write and write and it never feels like the work is done, complete, good enough. It really helps to have a clear vision of your ending in sight. This helps you reach the ending.<br />
</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Build a routine that helps you to finish the book. For me, this meant finding a time of day that (a) I was most productive and (b) I was not likely to be interrupted.
<ul>
<li>I tend to write between 05:00 and 06:00 each morning. That may not work for everyone, but it works for me.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="crafting-the-book-cover-isbn-editor">Crafting the book: Cover, ISBN, Editor</h2>
<ul>
<li>I created the cover myself for my first electronic book. I do not recommend this. It costs money to hire a professional graphic designer, and that person is worth it. <a href="http://apethebook.com/">APE</a> has suggestions on how to find a designer for your book cover</li>
<li>I found an editor through the <a href="https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/events/55ba56a2c7731b927802ff3d">Blue Pencil</a> offerings at the Vancouver Public Library. The editor I found is associated with <a href="http://www.editors.ca/branches/bc/index.html">Editors British Columbia</a></li>
<li>The <a href="http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/isbn-canada/Pages/isbn-canada.aspx">Canadian Federal Government</a> provides services for a publisher to get an ISBN. This includes self publishers. For other countries, I point you again to <a href="http://apethebook.com/">APE</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="promotion-of-the-book">Promotion of the Book</h2>
<p>I would say I still have a lot to learn about this area. My initial target audience for my first book was very small, as I was more interested in the mechanics of publishing rather than volume sales.</p>
<p>Here I would turn to The Internet, particularly the <a href="https://www.meetup.com">Meetup</a> part of the Internet. I know of at least one <a href="https://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-Writers-Group/">Group of Writers</a> who have organized a "Self-Publishing and Book Marketing Support Group." Chances are, someone in that group knows someone who can help you find the next step to building an audience for your book.</p>
<p>If you have created a manuscript, turned it into a book, and/or promoted it, I would like to hear about what works and what does not. Please leave a message in the comments or contact me through this blog.</p>
<p>Thanks, and I wish you success on your book journey.</p>standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-44800342254926638742016-12-16T22:28:00.000-08:002016-12-16T22:28:05.229-08:00How To Build A County Playground: One Book At A Time<p>Back in 2005 I started a Role Playing Game campaign with friends that grew into what we call County Playground.</p>
<p>Today, County Playground continues to grow in two directions:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>I'm building a campaign setting designed to work with the rules set from the <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG">PFRPG</a>, an extended multiverse.</li>
<li>I also have written a series of stories set in that multiverse.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>County Playground: The Grand Grind</strong> is the name of the latest campaign set in the multiverse of County Playground.</p>
<p>I'm enjoying immensely the process of building a campaign multiverse "One Book At A Time."</p>
<p>The first reference work for County Playground is done and on sale. <a href="https://itun.es/ca/agOTeb.l">A PC Guide to County Playground: The Grand Grind</a> is available exclusively through the iBooks store. The guide is intended for players of <strong>County Playground: The Grand Grind</strong>. It provides both guidelines for building player characters, and an overview of tone and history.</p>
<p>The first adventure story set in the multiverse of County Playground will be on sale in the first half of 2017. I'm working with an editor and an artist to produce an e-book that has both a cohesive tight story and a fine cover. The working title is <strong>Battle Stove Spectacular</strong>.</p>
<p>Both works will be published by Standard Eyre Digital Services.</p>
<p>For 2016, Standard Eyre Digital Services will donate fifty percent of all profits to the <a href="http://www.dsrf.org/">Down Syndrome Research Foundation</a>. The staff and volunteers at the DSRF do incredible work to ensure people with Down Syndrome live full and fulfilling lives.</p>
<hr />
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-65837326701199659702016-09-30T20:23:00.001-07:002016-09-30T20:23:27.314-07:00Just Enough Prep<p>As a creative person, I like preparing a campaign for a Role-Playing Game. Characters, backgrounds for those characters, motivations and histories behind those backgrounds, maps that detail those histories... I'd happily spend all the time I do not have building those details.</p>
<p>There's only so much time in the day, though.</p>
<p>As a game master who wants to run this campaign one day (and as someone who wants to stay sane), I found it helpful to draw up a <strong>Just Enough Prep</strong> target list. My intent is that once I had completed everything on this list, I'd be in a position to at least <em>start</em> the campaign.</p>
<p>The campaign is not a static story. It responds to the decisions and actions of the Player Characters. So, a secondary goal here is to have enough prep to be ready for the curve balls that the PCs throw. There's no conceivable way to prepare for every possible PC action.</p>
<h2 id="what-made-the-preparation-list">What made the Preparation List</h2>
<p>Some items on the list I found hard to quantify at first. I decided to prepare for these items by creating one or two items per player. I have six players in my gaming group.</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>A name for the campaign
<ul>
<li>The campaign is called "County Playground: The Grand Grind"</li>
</ul></li>
<li>A guide for the campaign setting should be ready for the players
<ul>
<li>Concise details on the campaign, to help the players generate PCs.</li>
<li>I have this ready. My ebook is titled <em>A PC Guide to <em>County Playground:The Grand Grind</em></em></li>
<li>It's <a href="https://itun.es/ca/agOTeb.l">on sale now at iBooks</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>A wiki with ten items per player
<ul>
<li>The players need something to work with.</li>
<li>I actually have two wikis: a public one for the players and a private one for Gamemaster Eyes Only. The public one is copied to the <a href="http://standardeyre.com/poem/">County Playground Grand Grind Mediawiki</a> site.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>A logo for the campaign
<ul>
<li>The logo ties together all the above items. I put the logo on the ebook <strong>PC Guide</strong> and the Mediawiki.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>A tool to push updates from my player vimwiki local on my computer to the Mediawiki installation accessible on the Internet.
<ul>
<li>Done as per <a href="http://standardeyre.blogspot.ca/2016/09/script-updates-mediawiki-from-vimwiki.html">yesterday's blog post</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>One <a href="http://standardeyre.blogspot.ca/">blog post</a> per player
<ul>
<li>Part of the job of the blog is to keep track of what works. I'm not planning to have to redo something in two years. If I have to, nice to have a record of what I did initially. Ideally, through the comments, someone might suggest a better way of doing things.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>A conflict web for the major NPCs
<ul>
<li>For this I found three large pieces of paper, 11 by 17 inches. I mapped out which NPCs are the masters and which are the servants, who is in love and who hates each other. Each NPC gets at least one relationship; some have several.</li>
<li>The idea here is that if the PCs suddenly go somewhere I have not thought of and encounter the NPC in a setting I have not expected, I'll at least have a starting point of what will motivate that NPC in that situation.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Sketches for the first several encounters
<ul>
<li>Two encounters per player</li>
<li>Rough out what the encounter requires: NPCs and monster names, from the characters, maps, key turning points in the campaign as a whole that the encounter will set up.</li>
<li>Some of these are more sketchy than others.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<h2 id="what-did-not-make-the-preparation-list">What did not make the Preparation List</h2>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Stats for every Non-Player Character (NPC)
<ul>
<li>The <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/npcCodex/core/">NPC Codex</a> has my back here. There are also NPC stats in the <a href="http://paizo.com/products/btpy8ffn?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-GameMastery-Guide">Gamemastery Guide</a>. Besides, why spend an hour giving detail to a NPC that the PCs are going to interact with for only two minutes and/or kill off? The ones that stick around will be fleshed out with stats.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Monster stat blocks
<ul>
<li>Exceptions will be lovingly created by hand. I have several books with monster stat blocks already; I can reference those in my notes.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-16044592805953315842016-09-29T21:52:00.000-07:002016-09-29T21:54:40.601-07:00scripted update from vimwiki to mediawiki<p>For my upcoming Pathfinder campaign, I have a vimwiki installation with content I want to give to my players, and that vimwiki is configured to use mediawiki syntax.</p>
<p>I also have a <a href="http://standardeyre.com/poem/">mediawiki installation</a> facing the Internet.</p>
<p>I wanted a tool to copy my content from the vimwiki on my laptop to the mediawiki server. I found this <a href="https://purplescarab.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/automatically-updatingreplacingediting-a-mediawiki-page-from-a-python-script-with-mwclient-an-example/">blog post</a> tying together mediawiki and the python <a href="https://github.com/mwclient/mwclient">mwclient</a> module as a start.</p>
<p>I extended the idea behind that blog post and wrote a script, which is <a href="https://github.com/sloboda/update_mediawiki_from_vimwiki">up at Github</a>, that covers what I need.</p>
<p>Running that script copies each page from vimwiki to a defined mediawiki server.</p>
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-42303693619310476852016-09-21T22:41:00.001-07:002016-09-29T20:58:15.840-07:00Mediawiki setup<p>I have two vimwiki directories, one private and one public. I want to share the public one with the players in my campaign.</p>
<p>In the past I've run a Mediawiki site. I'll do that again. Mediawiki is mature software. I'm trusting that enough other people (including those who run Wikipedia) are running and testing Mediawiki that any security holes will be discovered and found pretty quickly. Hopefully.</p>
<p>I captured a record of the setup steps for my <a href="http://standardeyre.com/poem/">campaign mediawiki site</a>.</p>
<h2 id="summary-of-mediawiki-setup-steps">Summary of mediawiki setup steps</h2>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Subscribe to the <a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce">mediawiki-announce mailing list</a> and stay up to date.</li>
<li>Create a development environment</li>
<li>Apply all the <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Security">security stuff</a>.</li>
<li>Put in the mod_rewrite stuff and use short URLs.</li>
<li>Add a logo.</li>
<li>Set up email.</li>
<li>Disable anonymous page view.</li>
</ol>
<h2 id="details">Details</h2>
<h3 id="subscribe-to-the-mediawiki-announce-mailing-list-and-stay-up-to-date">Subscribe to the mediawiki-announce mailing list and stay up to date</h3>
<p>Announcements of updated versions plug security holes. This is just good sense. Best practices for running your own site involve keep it clean and secure.</p>
<h3 id="create-a-development-environment">Create a development environment</h3>
<p>I used <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XAMPP">XAMPP</a> to test everything locally, first. Once it passed in the development environment I put the same feature out on the Internet.</p>
<h3 id="apply-all-the-security-stuff">Apply all the security stuff</h3>
<p>Running a mediawiki site means having the best security settings for the host, the apache server running on the host, the PHP installation executing the mediawiki content <em>and</em> the mediawiki site.</p>
<p>My intent is to follow best practices for the <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Security">security settings</a>.</p>
<h3 id="put-in-the-mod_rewrite-stuff-and-use-short-urls">Put in the mod_rewrite stuff and use short URLs</h3>
<p>It's personal preference, but I prefer the URL to say <code>webserver/wiki/Main_Page</code> in place of <code>webserver/wiki/index.php/Main_Page</code>.</p>
<p>Mediawiki provides guidelines on using <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL/Apache">short URLs</a></p>
<h3 id="add-a-logo">Add a logo</h3>
<p>A consistent logo ties together content.</p>
<ul>
<li>create logo</li>
<li>upload logo</li>
<li>edit LocalSettings.php to reference logo</li>
</ul>
<p>Mediawiki provides guidelines on using <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgLogo">logo</a></p>
<h3 id="set-up-email">Set up email</h3>
<p>Other people will be editing and adding content on the wiki (ideally). They'll have questions and concerns. Configure the mediawiki site to contact you with those questions and concerns, and to email help to your contributors.</p>
<h3 id="disable-anonymous-page-view">Disable anonymous page view</h3>
<p>This is personal preference more than anything else. Mediawiki comes with a search function, so it's not like I <strong>need</strong> Google to index the entire site.</p>
<p>Several pages still need to be whitelisted for anonymous access, including "Main Page", "Special:Userlogin" and "Help:Contents"</p>
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-82637711289946818212016-08-11T23:02:00.000-07:002016-08-11T23:03:48.874-07:00Set up your RPG Campaign details in vimwiki<p>I found this <a href="http://blog.mague.com/?p=602">Getting started with Vimwiki</a> blog post by Chris Mague a good and thorough guide to the installation and use of vimwiki. So, I will shamelessly emulate his approach and put together a similar guide for anyone who seeks to install and use vimwiki for RPG campaign detail management.</p>
<p>The goal of this document is to install vim, configure vim, and set up a pair of vimwiki installations. One vimwiki is labelled <strong>vimwiki</strong> and contains information for both players and the Gamemaster. The second wiki labelled <strong>private</strong> contains information intended only for the Gamemaster. The second wiki links to the first. There are no links from the first (public) wiki into the second (private) wiki.</p>
<h2 id="prerequisite-install-vim">Prerequisite: Install Vim</h2>
<p>Everything after this assumes 1) you have already installed vim and 2) you are familiar with using vim.</p>
<p>If you run Mac OS X, you will probably prefer to use <a href="http://macvim-dev.github.io/macvim/">MacVim</a> rather than fire up Terminal (or <a href="https://www.iterm2.com/">iTerm2</a>) and work with vim inside the Command Line Interface (CLI).</p>
<p>If you run Linux yet the <code>gvim</code> command does not work, you probably want to install <code>vim-gtk</code> or <code>vim-gnome</code> or a similar variant to get a vim GUI.</p>
<p>If you have vim, but you would appreciate a tutorial, try <code>vimtutor</code>. On Linux, you can install vimtutor with <code>yum install vim-enhanced</code> (RedHat) or <code>apt-get install vim-runtime</code> (Ubuntu)</p>
<p>If you have questions, one place to find answers is the <a href="http://vi.stackexchange.com/">vi and vim</a> site on the Stack Exchange collection of sites.</p>
<h2 id="install-vimwiki">Install Vimwiki</h2>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>First, add these lines to your <code>~/.vimrc</code> file</li>
</ol>
<pre><code> set nocompatible
filetype plugin on
syntax on</code></pre>
<p>Without them Vimwiki will not work properly.</p>
<ol start="2" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li><p>There's at least three different ways to install vimwiki. Arguably the easiest way to get the most current copy is described on the <a href="https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki">vimwiki github page</a> which I will reproduce here:</p>
<ul>
<li>download the zip archive and extract it in <code>~/.vim/bundle/</code></li>
<li>Then launch Vim, run <code>:Helptags</code> and then <code>:help vimwiki</code> to verify it was installed.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<h3 id="the-git-archive-does-not-work">The git archive does not work</h3>
<p>If the git archive does not work, there's a vimball from 2013 on <a href="http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2226">vim.org</a>. Download this, and unpack it as says on that page:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Open vimwiki-N-N.vba.gz with Vim. (N-N is version number i.e. 2-1)</li>
<li>Source it with the command <code>:so %</code></li>
<li>Run <code>:help vimwiki</code> to confirm that the plug-in loaded correctly.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="use-vundle">Use vundle</h3>
<p><a href="https://github.com/VundleVim/Vundle.vim">Vundle</a> is a plug-in manager for vim. The <a href="http://blog.mague.com/?p=602">Getting started with Vimwiki</a> blog has details about how to add both vimwiki and the Calendar plug-ins. The short summary:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Install vundle</li>
<li>Add Calendar and vimwiki to the vundle file. My vundle configuration is done from my <code>~/.vimrc</code></li>
</ol>
<pre><code> Bundle 'mattn/calendar-vim'
Bundle 'vimwiki'</code></pre>
<ol start="3" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Run <code>:help vimwiki</code> to confirm that the plug-in loaded correctly.</li>
</ol>
<h2 id="configure-vimwiki">Configure Vimwiki</h2>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Many of the commands used by vimwiki start with the <code>leader</code> key. If you have not changed it, your leader key is most likely the backslash ("\"). You can <a href="http://vi.stackexchange.com/questions/281/how-can-i-find-out-what-leader-is-set-to-and-is-it-possible-to-remap-leader">find what it is, and remap it</a> if you choose.</li>
<li>Put these lines in your .vimrc to set up the public and private wikis</li>
</ol>
<pre><code> " vimwiki
let wiki_1 = {}
let wiki_1.path = '~/vimwiki/'
let wiki_1.path_html = '~/vimwiki_html/'
let wiki_2 = {}
let wiki_2.path = '~/private/'
let wiki_2.path_html = '~/private_html/'
let g:vimwiki_list = [wiki_1, wiki_2]</code></pre>
<p>You now have two wiki installations, the first labelled <code>vimwiki</code> and the second labelled <code>private</code></p>
<h2 id="use-vimwiki">Use Vimwiki</h2>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Start up vim.
<ul>
<li>In the examples below, I use <code>gvim</code>. You can use vim from a terminal instead.</li>
</ul></li>
<li>You can use the Vimwiki menu to look at the links to the index pages. However, there's no data there yet, and the directories are not created yet. The commands in the next steps will build the directories and data.</li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwgsz3NrMJD64W80TRd_bFfGLS43zbeCSE3ZjlEKz6fj8PGUcrm_fq4DR_yeZ74KOgwWut6qIOubjOLBXHEdFMFpS5DeFDA4w_9K0YMp-DzzZFcpvFLMe4OyJJEH36WQRLMJ_W__980Y/s1600/vimwiki_start_from_empty_screen1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwgsz3NrMJD64W80TRd_bFfGLS43zbeCSE3ZjlEKz6fj8PGUcrm_fq4DR_yeZ74KOgwWut6qIOubjOLBXHEdFMFpS5DeFDA4w_9K0YMp-DzzZFcpvFLMe4OyJJEH36WQRLMJ_W__980Y/s1600/vimwiki_start_from_empty_screen1.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure One: Vim with vimwiki menu links and an otherwise empty screen</p>
</div>
<ol start="3" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Type <code>\ws</code> to show the list of two wikis. Choose the first one, the public one named <strong>vimwiki</strong></li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF7mgpKr93sWI13cTawBY-yBl878N4yEYhqi2STo_aDF0J678dYXhGZfoqMB-W_fjgUIszDFA6MlVpFOGUvJY4zFxtx0NHuMPDAnCvYqk-y7Rxq_401e11JECu8DkMuxDox7DlFKWJncg/s1600/vimwiki_start_from_empty_screen2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF7mgpKr93sWI13cTawBY-yBl878N4yEYhqi2STo_aDF0J678dYXhGZfoqMB-W_fjgUIszDFA6MlVpFOGUvJY4zFxtx0NHuMPDAnCvYqk-y7Rxq_401e11JECu8DkMuxDox7DlFKWJncg/s1600/vimwiki_start_from_empty_screen2.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure Two: Show vimwiki command line links</p>
</div>
<ol start="4" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>The directory <strong>vimwiki</strong> does not exist. Vim can tell this, and prompts you to create it. Click '<strong>Y</strong>'</li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRniFD2uJx3-IN4pa4DqzeCKbY-VZU4qn2QEca_NWcCqTLCKsv6U549t-4-10d_r1gZEzZW3kNUiFQzHjYbg7HKmtrZqsj98doexfUGst_eMiGFxxntSmjKB1LiBhe_jlpeMDcV8Eg74/s1600/vimwiki_3_create_directory.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRniFD2uJx3-IN4pa4DqzeCKbY-VZU4qn2QEca_NWcCqTLCKsv6U549t-4-10d_r1gZEzZW3kNUiFQzHjYbg7HKmtrZqsj98doexfUGst_eMiGFxxntSmjKB1LiBhe_jlpeMDcV8Eg74/s1600/vimwiki_3_create_directory.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure Three: Create vimwiki directory</p>
</div>
<ol start="5" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Enter the text of the index page. Be sure to add the search term <strong>Foobar</strong> for this page. We're going to want to search on a unique string in some but not all of the pages. That's what <strong>Foobar</strong> provides, here.</li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuxz3_YHW9memRK6_S0HsGvtlTlWSTDwQWY7-Xf7Rv8BWLaUs4JaL9zFVupCTLuKOejl4nZCr2PnMyqtmz_oMkfvFzW4q8ouUTud05uOWQtQVn7Tu3ZGFyYKkme1xfXUCvWZNccC8vKHY/s1600/vimwiki_4_create_content.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuxz3_YHW9memRK6_S0HsGvtlTlWSTDwQWY7-Xf7Rv8BWLaUs4JaL9zFVupCTLuKOejl4nZCr2PnMyqtmz_oMkfvFzW4q8ouUTud05uOWQtQVn7Tu3ZGFyYKkme1xfXUCvWZNccC8vKHY/s1600/vimwiki_4_create_content.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure Four: Create index page. Now With Foobar.</p>
</div>
<ol start="6" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>To turn text into links, surround the text with a pair of square brackets [[ and ]]</li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjsPkElYS7-S8L0wXoQDvpUfUxQ6zIhBsgNTtzGUv_sqv9UVn80cWptrOJQ0Ll1qkFAi9xcUN9NBxBhavSA8m_x3PORZbLHiexzgnCAnvC8LTY2gFdA7hMvX_ianKvhdfx5veHROFUeFI/s1600/vimwiki_5_create_link.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjsPkElYS7-S8L0wXoQDvpUfUxQ6zIhBsgNTtzGUv_sqv9UVn80cWptrOJQ0Ll1qkFAi9xcUN9NBxBhavSA8m_x3PORZbLHiexzgnCAnvC8LTY2gFdA7hMvX_ianKvhdfx5veHROFUeFI/s1600/vimwiki_5_create_link.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure Five: Create a link from the text 'Capital City'.</p>
</div>
<ol start="7" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Save the file.</li>
<li><p>Move the cursor on to the link text. Press <code><S + CR></code> (Hold down the Shift key and press Return).</p>
<ul>
<li>This opens the target of the link in a horizontal split window.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Add content to the new page in the split.</p>
<ul>
<li>I've added some population information to Capital City as an example.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWUV336b63Fsw7j6Er8VlP-twZ_QXG6mBrhJcLf9zD_dxd5eJiNkuTn9RDB4LkulmuKs7DcTDA2oTkzQBezRjKLNBcp52PUB36ukt92oOc8E6D1g8csd4_qGubGahg1MidgtcpXnb6fo/s1600/vimwiki_6_open_target_in_split.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWUV336b63Fsw7j6Er8VlP-twZ_QXG6mBrhJcLf9zD_dxd5eJiNkuTn9RDB4LkulmuKs7DcTDA2oTkzQBezRjKLNBcp52PUB36ukt92oOc8E6D1g8csd4_qGubGahg1MidgtcpXnb6fo/s1600/vimwiki_6_open_target_in_split.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure Six: Open link target in split.</p>
</div>
<ol start="10" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>We want a second, Gamemaster only, wiki. To create this second wiki in a new tab, type <code>2\wt</code> You are prompted to create the second directory (named <code>private</code> here)</li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbi2-jzOdlFFpeoXFPZv_2WJ6CcDr7BHF2YekH_vmrYziPB1FLgLnhLopj3dV0xvam4mEbL9ZVZ73zdbmeGlaqSVhMtSoiZ4azalzsw2P8BN9X4SbPAg_7FJbRsTGO2yQYFV_TvDFDSMg/s1600/vimwiki_7_create_new_wiki_in_new_directory.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbi2-jzOdlFFpeoXFPZv_2WJ6CcDr7BHF2YekH_vmrYziPB1FLgLnhLopj3dV0xvam4mEbL9ZVZ73zdbmeGlaqSVhMtSoiZ4azalzsw2P8BN9X4SbPAg_7FJbRsTGO2yQYFV_TvDFDSMg/s1600/vimwiki_7_create_new_wiki_in_new_directory.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure Seven: Create new directory.</p>
</div>
<ol start="11" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li><p>Add content to the second private wiki index page.</p>
<ul>
<li>In the image below, the private wiki is in a new tab.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNd8dv_r-ieepa2huRqzI89V95WyE3X5dQhZcqfBWEWkuXhORv9JOwF39k0VoKF2EA24se5Q0rLDnH1L-0JzmTlKpuKo0h8PaTyCWwvxJah7eL0GRheU-GT7cbhr9uqze7W5uBhEKkj0/s1600/vimwiki_8_create_private_information.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNd8dv_r-ieepa2huRqzI89V95WyE3X5dQhZcqfBWEWkuXhORv9JOwF39k0VoKF2EA24se5Q0rLDnH1L-0JzmTlKpuKo0h8PaTyCWwvxJah7eL0GRheU-GT7cbhr9uqze7W5uBhEKkj0/s1600/vimwiki_8_create_private_information.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure"><p class="caption">Figure Eight: Add content.</p>
</div>
<ol start="12" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li><p>Add a link to the first wiki by prefacing the link with the wiki number.</p>
<ul>
<li>The first wiki in the link list (the public wiki) is wiki0. This means the link starts with <code>wiki0</code>.</li>
<li>There's no problem with a space in the wiki text name between <strong>Capital</strong> and <strong>City</strong></li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWOqSc2TKEQINKns_gQ4Ajm6SdDwCfSFXAPTK5cpa3RmOZ65rVzgN4vDUrZBtqbqb1LfIvf5U55yVSkR5sJ1clYqYfwnK6NHei0H79WUER_wbOjbZvHDoNzsqR7l7hj5yafEIGwouS_t0/s1600/vimwiki_9_create_interwiki_link.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWOqSc2TKEQINKns_gQ4Ajm6SdDwCfSFXAPTK5cpa3RmOZ65rVzgN4vDUrZBtqbqb1LfIvf5U55yVSkR5sJ1clYqYfwnK6NHei0H79WUER_wbOjbZvHDoNzsqR7l7hj5yafEIGwouS_t0/s1600/vimwiki_9_create_interwiki_link.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure Nine: Add interwiki link from private wiki back to first (public) wiki.</p>
</div>
<ol start="13" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>Save the file. Put the cursor on the interwiki link and press Return. This follows the link from the private wiki and takes you to the public wiki target.</li>
<li>Press <code>Backspace</code> to go back a link. You return to the private Gamemaster page.</li>
<li>You can search one wiki with <code>:VWS /term/</code> but that search does not extend across multiple wikis. It only searches one wiki at a time.</li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigu8WXCl-QqgRh2WoxyaZvjWHKiVvTulfy4u6V0kD-nbZvDcaOj__ZPh6Y1fOWt8MnigJ8tWu7164uYxjfi3f3CRxOD0esm4IN2bjHgMYc6MLkhK491U38_9jdbJU3wdMD7QF0Pwqbbck/s1600/vimwiki_10_vws.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigu8WXCl-QqgRh2WoxyaZvjWHKiVvTulfy4u6V0kD-nbZvDcaOj__ZPh6Y1fOWt8MnigJ8tWu7164uYxjfi3f3CRxOD0esm4IN2bjHgMYc6MLkhK491U38_9jdbJU3wdMD7QF0Pwqbbck/s1600/vimwiki_10_vws.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure Ten: Vim Wiki Search</p>
</div>
<h2 id="build-a-chronicle-using-vimwiki-diary-function">Build a Chronicle using vimwiki diary function</h2>
<p>The assumption here is that your <code><leader></code> key is set to ("\")</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li><code>\ws</code> lets you select <code>1</code> to open the public wiki.</li>
<li>press <code>\w\w</code> to create a new chronicle entry.
<ul>
<li>This uses the vimwiki diary function and shows up in the subdirectory <code>vimwiki/diary</code></li>
<li>The file name of the wiki chronicle entry is derived from the current date.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fG1EB3YogWxnGSr3Pv3K0aSdyHPYf3c1xF2cBIG0qpCytIwObq3Fkgcuelgu4JStJBCX8Cy0vipuJewhLnAesCQH-a0vo1tIYzP5026XOqhQ-h3EzuD7GMbYJaVZFchv5n8ToIRoRwI/s1600/vimwiki_chronicle_create.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fG1EB3YogWxnGSr3Pv3K0aSdyHPYf3c1xF2cBIG0qpCytIwObq3Fkgcuelgu4JStJBCX8Cy0vipuJewhLnAesCQH-a0vo1tIYzP5026XOqhQ-h3EzuD7GMbYJaVZFchv5n8ToIRoRwI/s1600/vimwiki_chronicle_create.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure"><p class="caption">Figure Eleven: Create a wiki chronicle entry</p>
</div>
<ol start="3" style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>press <code>\wi</code> to go to the index of all chronicle entries.</li>
<li>press <code>\w\i</code> to update the links to of all chronicle entries.
<ul>
<li>You must be on the index page to run <code>\w\i</code></li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTZmLucQ38SDeTAMWiH1L7S5YxvoV_SdLeF_KdYC_ROKH6_CzeYSvGp8f6EidWafnU7Rx_kjtgCAo91X6udVfG2EYQInErNTDCxBihawpw0F6wSC5xh5z3CIzOPXYjoM3DV1mA5LuB2KI/s1600/vimwiki_chronicle_index_update.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTZmLucQ38SDeTAMWiH1L7S5YxvoV_SdLeF_KdYC_ROKH6_CzeYSvGp8f6EidWafnU7Rx_kjtgCAo91X6udVfG2EYQInErNTDCxBihawpw0F6wSC5xh5z3CIzOPXYjoM3DV1mA5LuB2KI/s1600/vimwiki_chronicle_index_update.png" /></a></div>
<div class="figure">
<p class="caption">Figure Twelve: Update the links to all chronicle entries</p>
</div>
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-4151209763607546022016-08-06T11:10:00.000-07:002016-08-06T11:12:49.441-07:00One campaign fills two vimwiki installations
<p>I will run a campaign for friends in the coming months. A big campaign.</p>
<p>This idea is fraught with peril for several reasons. The first two that come to mind:</p>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li>The setting is large. Large continent with large number of people. Many of the opponents have large schemes.</li>
<li>The players who will participate in this campaign setting are smart. And by that, I mean "graduate degree in Engineering Physics" smart. Like "I have multiple patents to my name" smart. Like "I am a moderator on <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/">BoardGameGeek.com</a> and I have played, owned, or reviewed every tabletop game ever made by humanity and some made by subhumans." So putting together a campaign that is interesting, let alone challenging, is going to require some detailed brain work on my part. I'm going to have to get up very early in the morning several years in advance to get ahead of these players.</li>
</ol>
<p>This means I need a tool that can keep track of a large number of details.</p>
<p>It'd be best if those details are stored in plain text. That way I can search the content quickly using existing tools. Storing those details in a specific binary format or a database locks the details down and makes transformation a challenge.</p>
<p>Those details are to be shared. Descriptions of people, places and things in the campaign are meant to be shared with the players. I like the idea of putting together electronic books and sharing the details in one unified book with an edition date. Most of my players can use the Apple offering iBooks which means ePub format, but one or two will probably prefer to use Kindle which means either MOBI or KF8 format... maybe both.</p>
<p>It might be easier to put all those details up into a wiki like <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">Mediawiki</a>, and access those details through the Internet. The Mediawiki allows collaborative editing which I want for my players (assuming my players have the time to add details! Everyone gets so busy....) This assumes we'll always be gaming somewhere with Internet access.</p>
<p>Paper handouts of non-player character details could come in handy. That means transforming text into PDF format. Any sort of positioning of those details needs some sort of word processor or layout tool. If I have to make one single handout I could put the details in Pages or OpenOffice or something else, but if I have to make three or more I would look at wrapping the details in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX">LaTeX</a> and transforming those files to PDF.</p>
<p>That sounds like a number of different formats. Plain text also lets me transform and format the content quickly.</p>
<p>But wait! There's more! Not all the details will be shared with the players. My intent is to build <em>one</em> campaign world, but <em>some</em> of the details will be shared and <em>other</em> details will be for GM eyes only.</p>
<p>I could try hiding some of the Gamemaster details in comments, but I don't trust that I can keep commented details secret and/or up-to-date. I'd work with more confidence if I had all the game master secret details secured in a special secure location. The default is public. Anything not secured is assumed to be public details in a collection the player characters can (and hopefully will be excited to) look at.</p>
<p>That sounds like two wiki installations. Sometimes I get part of an idea, and I'd like to capture it somewhere. Two and a half wiki installations? There's also a need for a "PC log" or chronicle of what the players encounter and do. So that sounds like two wiki installations, maybe three, plus some sort of record organized by date.</p>
<p>Enter <a href="http://vimwiki.github.io/">vimwiki</a>.</p>
<p>Vimwiki will store all the details in plain text files. This means I can subsequently use <a href="http://pandoc.org/">pandoc</a> to group a dozen of those files together and transform that group into one electronic book in ePub format. Pandoc can also transform text into PDF.</p>
<p>Plain text files means that the wiki can be stored in git. Stored in git means version control and distributed copies (also known as backups). It might not be a big selling feature for most people, but my use of plain text files also means I'm not tied to a vendor or a cloud. I don't have to worry about Obsidian Portal going offline, or running out of disk space on Google Drive nor iCloud nor Azure. I don't have to fear that the Internet connection is down; I can make a backup locally or to the cloud.</p>
<p>Vimwiki can manage two wiki installations: one for the GM and a second one for the public player information. Details can be cross-linked between the two wikis, so the GM wiki can link to the public site without dropping too much information. I heard about this first on a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1dguct/dms_of_reddit_what_do_your_notes_look_like/c9q8n5k">reddit post</a>.</p>
<p>There are tools to sync files to and from a Mediawiki site. Vimwiki has its own wiki syntax, but it also has an option to use the Mediawiki syntax. So, the player wiki will be set up with Mediawiki syntax and the files posted to the public Mediawiki. You might be reading this and thinking "How are you going to keep the two in sync?" Given how busy my players are with other tasks, and given that there might be a dozen people globally that want to contribute to this wiki, I do not foresee a locking nor a synchronization issue.</p>
<p>Vimwiki has a diary function. I'm not one for "Dear Diary: today I plan to take over the world!" type entries. However, the diary function is a great way to open a new file for today, jot down some half-baked thought, then continue. Those half-baked ideas can be stored, searched days later, then pulled into either of the first two wiki installations.</p>
<p>Another term for diary is chronicle. The diary of the public wiki can be used for the chronicle of what the players encounter.</p>
<div class="figure">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5mOZqOaPDtjmgAG5gadoDvlB6bFeTaw-MnSjWcwqgZfbwPof0MIahORup4HQqfRcYMjHNelQ7mNKUQpdrg5x4miXGwgQ8RpNs_LSSxVpPO2RfEpbSzNeGwAyqq64mjvgANA7AcuTLQ8/s1600/private_public_diary.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5mOZqOaPDtjmgAG5gadoDvlB6bFeTaw-MnSjWcwqgZfbwPof0MIahORup4HQqfRcYMjHNelQ7mNKUQpdrg5x4miXGwgQ8RpNs_LSSxVpPO2RfEpbSzNeGwAyqq64mjvgANA7AcuTLQ8/s1600/private_public_diary.png" /></a></div>
</div>
<p>The example above has one gvim instance open with four windows in that instance.</p>
<p>The top row has one entry for the public vimwiki. The path is<code>~/vimwiki/diary/2016-08-05.wiki</code> and the entry shows a public chronicle of what the players did. Better luck against the vegepygmies next time, players!</p>
<p>The middle row is divided into two columns. The column on the left is the public wiki page for a race of creatures known as Fieldfolk. The path to the file is <code>~/vimwiki/Fieldfolk.wiki</code> and that page has one visible link to a second public wiki page where the link text is Cede.</p>
<p>The column on the right has line numbers showing, lines 1 to 5. The cursor is on the middle of a link in line three, on the pipe | character that separates the link on the left from the link text on the right. This is an example of the private wiki linking to the public wiki (the Fieldfolk.wiki page in the left column). The file is in the private wiki as shown by the path <code>~/private/index.wiki</code></p>
<p>The third, bottom, and final row has a link to the diary of the private wiki, which I'm using as a "Gamemaster's journal for raw notes." The path to the file is <code>~/private/diary/2016-07-31.wiki</code> and the file has been modified but not saved (as indicated by the plus sign to the right of the file path name). I've also mis-spelled the word "vegepygmy" to show that the spell check is working and has highlighted the mistake.</p>
<p>I used to keep all the reference details for my campaign, something like three hundred names, places and events, in a wiki contained as a separate single HTML file stored on a jump drive. This worked until the browser vendor tightened security and prevented the javascript of the wiki HTML file from working on one OS platform. I moved everything to vimwiki and never regretted it.</p>
<h1 id="references">References</h1>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal">
<li><a href="http://thedarnedestthing.com/vimwiki%20cheatsheet">vimwiki cheatsheet</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blog.mague.com/?p=602">Getting started with Vimwiki</a></li>
</ol>
standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-11817689115961549702016-07-20T22:15:00.001-07:002016-07-20T22:21:09.548-07:00I use vim"I don't always write. But when I do, I use <a href="http://www.vim.org/">vim</a>."<br />
<br />
<br />
Why vim? <br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Vim is cross-platform: Mac OS, Unix, Microsoft Windows. Vim works everywhere.</li>
<li>My muscle memory of key commands for cursor movement, text selection, and text edit is very strong after several years.</li>
<li>Vim can be used to write text in any format: <a href="https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/">Markdown</a>, <a href="https://latex-project.org/intro.html">LaTeX</a>, <a href="http://vimwiki.github.io/">vimwiki</a>, or <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">mediawiki</a> markup just to start.</li>
<li>Vim has <a href="http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/usr_28.html">folding</a>. Get text out of the way you do not want to see.</li>
<li>Syntax highlighting shows your wiki links </li>
<li>The <a href="https://pragprog.com/book/tpp/the-pragmatic-programmer">Pragmatic Programmer</a> recommends "Use a Single Editor Well"</li>
<li>You can define your own <a href="http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Using_abbreviations">abbreviations</a> for common terms.</li>
<li>Complete keywords by searching existing keywords</li>
<li>Tabs and splits allow you to jump from one piece of text to another very quickly.</li>
<li>The <a href="http://vimwiki.github.io/">vimwiki</a> plugin allows creation of linked plain-text files to make a wiki. The <a href="https://pragprog.com/book/tpp/the-pragmatic-programmer">Pragmatic Programmer</a> recommends "Keep Knowledge in Plain Text." Vimwiki does that.</li>
</ol>
<br />
Admittedly, vim is an even stronger tool partnered with <a href="http://vimwiki.github.io/">vimwiki</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grep">grep</a> and<br />
<a href="http://pandoc.org/">pandoc</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I'm going to go into more detail about how I use vimwiki to manage my campaign details in a series of future posts.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2742298510716515528.post-56291843644931116192016-07-19T21:09:00.001-07:002016-12-12T21:23:16.538-08:00It's the comedy.I like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game">Role-playing Games</a> and I have for quite some time.<br />
<br />
My current favorite game is <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG">Pathfinder</a> by Paizo, although I've tried many different ones, from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolemaster">Rolemaster</a> to Paranoia to the FASERIP <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Super_Heroes_(role-playing_game)">Marvel Super Heroes</a> game that came out in 1984.<br />
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I could name several reasons for playing. My parents were more than happy to let me spend my time reading, writing and working out basic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistic_(role-playing_games)#Derived_statistics">derived statistics</a> instead of breaking stuff as I grew up. Creating art (even fantasy maps) <a href="http://lifehacker.com/making-art-can-reduce-stress-regardless-of-skill-level-1783873594">reduces stress</a>. There's socialization with peers and collective problem solving. That story that's not published yet provides yet more background for the game's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_(role-playing_games)">campaign</a> setting.<br />
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The top reason, though, is the comedy.<br />
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I've not tried stand-up comedy. Yet. I <i>have</i> given presentations to four hundred people and told jokes as ice-breakers. There's something about presenting a joke to a crowd and getting a laugh that provides positive feedback to the speaker. Live actors "get it" and theater patrons see the actors get this feedback. I read recently about how Steve Martin honed his act over and over again, partly to get it perfect and partly because he sought out that positive feedback from his audience. <br />
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I don't have it in me to become a professional actor nor a successful stand-up comic. Weekly, though, I am glad to share the (metaphorical) stage with a half-dozen friends. I'm going to start my turn in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamemaster">gamemaster</a>'s chair soon enough to run the show for them, and I can't wait.<br />
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Not all of the campaigns I have run are like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galavant">Galavant</a> in tone and style. Most of them are, though. I don't have the skill as a librettist to create and sustain the twelve act Bardic Battle Opera epic campaign I have had in mind ever since Wizards of the Coast invented <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bard_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)">a character class</a> who goes into dungeons to sing at monsters. But if I did, that set of adventures would have dance numbers. <br />
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I <b>do</b> enjoy setting the stage, providing the background, and soon enough the comedy shows up. I set an event and I can see, right away, from the reactions of my friends, what is working and what is not. Writing a story gets that reaction from readers (when they write back) but the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop">OODA loop</a> is a lot, lot, longer.<br />
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All of that is to set the stage for this blog, where I plan to capture tools, techniques and success stories from my efforts to build campaigns, create iOS tools to help role-playing gamers, and yes, maybe tell a joke or too. standardeyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126103945346932099noreply@blogger.com0