Recovering from Disaster

February 2nd, 2012 | No Comments

When I was getting my new computer all set up, before the release of Star Wars The Old Republic, I attempted to access my USB drive containing my three campaign worlds: my fantasy world of Alderia, my Shadowrun world of Bay City, and my Champions world. I found I could not access my USB drive. After some fiddling, I discovered the USB being very warm to the touch.

It burned up. So was all of my campaign files since the 1990s I had worked so hard to document.

Through a lot of hunting and searching, I have been able to recover my fantasy campaign of Alderia, and my Shadowrun world. My Champions work, however, was toast with the exception of my writing for Dark Champions: Murderers Row.

The loss of the Champions work affected me the most, not only because I lost my submissions to Assassin’s Directory (the never published book I was co-writing), but moreso because I was using the material to start up a Mutants & Mastermind campaign in the same campaign city. Thus, my campaign was put into a blender, and I just have not found the motivation to attempt to rebuild it. Thankfully, another of my players took up his portion of the world and we’re still playing, but I just don’t have the enthusiasm at this point in time.

However, my full recovery, through multiple directories, of my fantasy world has me rewriting portions of it in my spare time. Well, what little spare time I have trying to conquer the Republic. (Server: Hedarr Soongh, Guild: Blacklisted, level 44 and climbing)

I hope to put down some more things onto this blog concerning Alderia, my fantasy worl, in the near future. Eventually, I will return to rebuilding my Champions campaign world.

 

August 14 2011 – Interview of Thomas Marrone of Cryptic Studios

December 16th, 2011 | No Comments

Sorry this has been so late to being posted. This is what happens when you get distracted and forget. Anyways, this is my 'shaky cam' video interview of Thomas Marrone of Cryptic Studios back in August.

MEN Christmas Marathon 2011 – St Judes Research Hospital

December 16th, 2011 | No Comments

Sevnara Eilserv

September 27th, 2011 | No Comments

 

Race: Sith Pureblood
Class: Sith Warrior/Juggernaut
Homeword: Drathomir

Sevnara looked over the table at the little man in front of her. Some bureaucrat from the high lords, or so the man claimed, wanting to know her background for the record. Sevnara glanced around the room. The inn was in one of the worst parts of the city, so she smirked to herself.

"Okay. You want to know more about me for your records, hm? Sure your stomach can handle it?

I was born on a little planet called Drathomir, while my mother was scouting the planet for the Sith Lords. Not wanting to carry around a child with her as she continued her mission, she gave me over to the Witches that control the planet these days. She then went off and never returned, so I haven't a clue who my father ever was, nor her fate.

Yeah, don't cry for me, though. Those Witches taught me a few things as I grew up. For one, I was treated like a slave as I did not have their genetics. But, I had more potential in me than most of them, and they knew it. They thought they could control me by trying to turn me subservient, but I would have none of that. 

You do not want to know the punishments I went through, little man. I could not escape since that planet's forest is the home of the rancor. So, I suffered through the torture. But as I grew older, and stronger in the Force, the Witches took to training me. Soon, I was pretty damn powerful, if I would say so myself. So, when I finally hit adulthood, the Witches sent me away to make my own place in the galaxy. See, they did not want me around any longer as I was now a threat to their high queen.

So, I went my merry way and found the homeworld of my mother. That's where we are now. Through my training, and ablility to take punishment, the Sith immediately saw in me a warrior. So, that is what I became here, a warrior."

Sevnara glanced around the tavern common room again. The little man was still busy typing everything into his pad. She noticed one of the patrons of the bar was harassing one of the dancers. "One moment. Stay here," she ordered the little man doing the recording.

Standing up, Sevnara walked over to where the patron and the dancer were having their confrontation. "Come on, babe," said the man to the dancer, "I wanna good time and that's why your here. Now kiss me!"

"Sorry, bar rules say I can't do that!" exclaimed the dancer. She was a human, like the man, but while the man was fairly disheveled and most likely drunk, she was barely clad in silks, which twirled in the air when she danced.

Sevnara stepped between them. "Bar rules she can't do this." Suddenly, Sevnara's hand grabbed the nape of the dancer's neck. Using her strength, Sevnara pulled the dancer's mouth to Sevnara's own and gave her a deep kiss in front of the bar patrons, including the lout who had been accosting the dance.

A war whoop of surprise came from the bar, as the man's eyes grew wide. Sevnara let go of the kiss and the dancer's neck. The dancer stood there in shock, not knowing what to think. Turning to the man, Sevnara said "I'll help you out further, since you couldn't understand those rules." 

Sevnara suddenly repeated her action, this time though with the man. She grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. Again, a whoop came from the rest of the bar patrons, at least until Sevnara released the man from her grip. 

He fell to the floor dead. "Aw. Too bad. Had a heart attack from the ecstasy. Better call someone to clean this up, bartender," said Sevnara, stepping over the dead man's body. The bar patrons, and especially the dancer, were in total shock. Sevnara turned to the dancer, "Honey, next time be firmer. Men aren't worth the effort of persuasion."

She stepped back over to the table, and slid back into her seat. Her drink was quickly refilled by a very nervous waitress. Sevnara leaned back in a relaxed pose suited for royalty. "Got all you needed?"

The little man nodded. "That is sufficient. My report has been filed." Standing from the table, the man gave an Imperial salute to Sevnara, "Now, if you will excuse me, I have others I must make reports on."

Sevnara waved her hand to the man nonchalantly. "Of course, do your pencil pushing. I wish to have some more fun here." She turned slightly towards the dancer she previously kissed and motioned with her hand. The dancer's top suddenly came off into the hands of another patron. "Oh yes, I think I will have a lot of fun here for now."

 

Kumiko Silk Suukyi

September 27th, 2011 | No Comments

Silk Suukyi


Race: Oriental (Korean)
Side: Illuminati

"How does an oriental prostitute join the Illuminati, versus joining the much more logical Dragon?" The question escaped the lips of Silk Suukyi, as she sat in one of the lounges found inside Illuminati Headquarters. She took a long pull on the cigarette in her holder, then she put it down to the ashtray beside her.

"That is actually not the question, my friend. The actual question is how did a terrorist, an agent of chaos, get the Dragon so pissed off that they worked to ruin her?" Silk picked up her glass of wine and took a sip.

"Oh?" asked one of those sitting in the area with her. "How is that?"

Silk grinned. "See, I am no normal prostitute by any means. I used to be a part of a cell, a terrorist based in South Korea. See, a small group of us are out there. We hate what the Japanese and the Chinese did to us throughout the years. So, we decided to take revenge.

Normally, the group would just hack computers, and cause electronic chaos. That hack against Sony? Wasn't 'Anonymous', that was us. It is the kind of thing we did. Online gaming was a big target, you know all that gold selling crap you hear about? We did that sort of shit. Well, most of our group did." Looking over at the others, Silk took another draw off of her cigarette.

"See, while we were confined to do little things like that, we caused chaos. The Dragon liked that, and they never bothered us. But a group of us, led by myself and my sister, decided to go further. We assassinated a businessman in a pretty disgusting manner, as a warning to Japan to leave Korea alone. How were we to know he was an operative of the Dragon, and a high one at that?

Well, my little cell was assaulted by the Dragon, and whomever wasn't killed were taken prisoner. For me, they had a special treat. They took my mind and scrambled it with their little Japanese techie tricks. They turned me into a tramp, a prostitute, and I was forced to be a playtoy to those same Japanese businessmen I despised, but they controlled. "

"So," started one of the others, "You had no control over your actions?"

"Not in the slightest. I had been programmed as the most lustful, submissive person you could ever think," replied Silk "Eventually, those businessmen tired of me and tossed me to the street. Having no other skills, at least that I knew of, I had to survive by sucking off any and every Tom, Dick, or Harry-san in Tokyo. I was arrested a number of times, but charges tend to be dropped when dealing with someone of my talents. Despondent, I became an addict as well."

"But, you were the lowest of the low. How did you come here to join us?" The question was asked by the last person at the lounge area, a female of higher rank than anyone else. The others, consequently, nodded at her question and all turned towards Silk.

"An Illuminati operation against the Dragon uncovered my file. Needless to say, the Illuminati tracked me down. They captured me, which was not hard at that point, and deprogrammed me as best as they could. I think they thought I would just be information, but they got a fighter out of the deal and recruited me to the fold." Silk shrugged, "They weren't able to get everything out of my personality the Dragon had stuck in there. But at least I have my old skills and memories back."

"Now, my life is dedicated to giving hell to the Dragon, for the way they fucked me over. Between the programming, deprogramming, and the drugs, though, I have found I can talk to the city. The city wants order, the city wants infrastructure. The city wants to grow under Illuminati control."

Laughter erupted amongst a couple of the listeners, but not from the female officer. "Oh sure, you laugh," said Silk.  "You think the city can't talk, but it does to me. The city is my power."

"What is your opinion of the Templars, then, Silk?" asked the female officer. "What do you think of their methods?" 

"The Templars, you ask? They want order too, but they want a religious order. Their order won't allow us to thrive, it will just stifle us and we'll turn back to the Dark Ages. They think that is just fine, as they'll have their control. I want to live, and that ain't living." Silk grinned, "Frankly, I want to live life to the fullest. I want to be wealthy, have power, and do what I damn well want as long as I fit into the plan. You can't live without some rules, without some order, but you can have a world and be hedonistic at the same time."

Silk shrugged, "That is probably some of my programming still in my mind. If you read comics, I'm the new fucking White Queen. That's where I want to be when it is all said and done. Running a company, living the high life."

Silk raised her glass, "To a New World Order. Ours." The rest of the group raised their glasses in salute, and they all drank. Silk nodded to the officer and the others, "Now, if you will excuse me, one cannot remain idle too long these days. We have a world to control."

The Show Must Go On!

August 3rd, 2011 | No Comments

A little bad news hit today. For some obvious reasons, Creations Entertainment, the folks who put on the Star Trek Las Vegas event, will not allow me to stream video live from inside the convention. I completely understand their position, and they were very nice to me about the fact I even asked in the first place.

However, if I take a step outside of the convention area, I can broadcast. So, though it won’t be as colorful as I desire, I can still broadcast live on Friday, August 12th. I just won’t be doing it from the dealer’s room, which was my original intention.

I still hope to interview a number of people. I have not heard back yet from Rod Roddenberry’s people. I know they wanted me to help show off some of their items for sale, which I may not be able to do live due to that restriction I mentioned above. I am still hoping, though, to interview the Roddenberry.com product manage, Chief Operating Officer, and Rod Roddenberry himself over the course of the day. I also plan to interview Twitter people such as @startrekcore, who convinced with a viral marketing campaign Jim Beam to pay for his convention attendance; Mary @televixen Czerwinski who is attempting to get into the next Star Trek movie as Dr Elizabeth Dehner via http://www.makemedehner.com; one of the convention organizers for NeonCon, Las Vegas’s own gaming convention; as well as a number of others who worked at the Star Trek Experience, cosplay, or any other number of things.

Except for Rod Roddenberry, you notice a lack of stars who will be at the convention on my interview list. Again, they are there as guests of Creation Entertainment so unless I catch them outside of the convention, I doubt I will get too many bites.

This all changes next year, when I get press credentialed. Yes, that will be happening. It is a disadvantage to not have the credentials this year, but Main Event Gaming Network will expand to a point where we will have credentialed reporters at various events such as E3, PAX, and San Diego Comic Con.

Star Trek Las Vegas Broadcasting

July 25th, 2011 | No Comments

On August 12, I will be in Las Vegas attending the Star Trek convention at the Rio. While I am there, Main Event Gaming Network will be providing a 24 hour marathon of various video games based on Las Vegas broadcast over Justin.tv.

My intent is to be able to interview people live from Las Vegas during the time. Right now, I am attempting to find the best way to do this. The last option is so far the only one that has seriously worked, which is using a laptop computer with a Microsoft LiveCam attached to it. I have attempted using the Justin.tv iPhone app to broadcast, but it cannot hold onto the network over 3G at this time. If the wireless at the Rio holds up, it may work but I am testing that with my home network.

My next option may be purchasing a netbook computer that has a built-in camera. I am not sure about this as I doubt the netbook will have as good of a camera as either my iPhone or my LiveCam.

Irregardless, I will find a way to broadcast. I hope to be able to interview a number of people live and have people on the Justin.tv cast ask questions. This is citizen journalism in its raw form, and I am really looking forward to this.

If this works out, we will be refining the process and hope to bring reports back from all sorts of other conventions around the world with interest to the video game playing community.

Introducing Main Event Gaming Network

July 22nd, 2011 | No Comments

Main Event Gaming Network is a new idea formulated by a number of folks who broadcast their video game playing on various sites like Justin.tv, NGame.tv, and Ustream to name a few. We are planning on creating a full gaming community, gamers and broadcasters, dedicated to playing video games. Our plans include reviews and interviews of personalities involved in gaming and science fiction/fantasy, as well as forums and a social networking community on places such as Steam.

Our plans may be ambitious, but we have plenty of people helping from the start. We want to grow this as a community powered by the broadcasters and those who love gaming.

Over a dozen broadcasters are joining us on our initial 72 hour marathon broadcast going on July 22-24 on Justin.tv. We are also planning future broadcasts. The next one will be a special 24 hour Vegas-themed broadcast three weeks from now. When that happens, I will be in Las Vegas reporting from the Creation Entertainment Star Trek Convention at the Rio. We will be doing the broadcasts live as the other broadcasters are playing video games based in Las Vegas.

That week, some of our members will be also participating in Gaming for a Cure, another charity marathon on Justin.tv.

More events are planned, and we would like for all gamer to come and check us out as someone is playing the same games you are!

http://www.maineventgamingnetwork.com is the web address, or follow us at http://twitter.com/megnetwork

See you there!

Make Mary Dehner!

July 19th, 2011 | 3 Comments

Dr. Elizabeth Dehner had only a short run on the original Star Trek show. Her character was ascended to godhood against her will, but she was one of the most accomplished of the female officers on the USS Enterprise. Unlike Nurse Chapel, Dr. Dehner was a full doctor, only Dr McCoy ranked above her in the medical staff. It is a ‘minor’ character I agree should be brought back for the new J J Abrams vision of Star Trek.

MaryCzerwinski headshot Make Mary Dehner!

Mary Czerwinski

My good friend Mary Czerwinski agrees. Mary has decided to take up the campaign of bringing back Dehner for the Abrams vision Star Trek. Mary, who has done some acting as well as hosts for a number of podcasts including DVDGeeks.tv, is almost a dead ringer for the original actress of Dehner. It is a very logical step for Mary to take the role in the latest Star Trek movie to be made, and continue to role into the future.

http://www.makemedehner.com is her attempt to get the attention of J J Abrams and the others involved in the Star Trek movie to recognize and cast her in the role. I fully support Mary and want her to succeed in what would be her finest hour.

 

Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith

April 19th, 2011 | No Comments

Elisabeth Sladen, best known as Sarah Jane Smith in the Doctor Who television show, and who got her own spinoff with the Sarah Jane Adventures, has suddenly passed away at the age of 63.

This little blog is wholly inadequate to express my feelings about this. Sarah Jane was actually the first companion I remember watching, when I started watching Doctor Who on Iowa Public Television. She was partnered at that time with the late Jon Pertwee. Because of the sometimes interesting broadcast schedule of IPTV, I watched all the way through Sarah Jane’s adventures with both Jon and Tom Baker before the schedule reset and I started watching Jon again with Katy Manning.

Sarah Jane was an iconic character, though I did not realize it at the time. She was a reporter, in the mold of Superman’s Lois Lane. Tough as nails, but always getting into trouble. Lis Sladen was also attractive, but smart. Realize, the only other woman in the center of the country on a SciFi show at the time with similar characteristics was Uhura on Star Trek reruns.

I was elated when Sarah Jane returned in School Reunion. I watched the Sarah Jane Adventures program when I could. Even though she was almost 40 years older, she still held a special charm in my heart.

I am devastated to know that she has passed away today. I will never get to meet her in person, because I discovered the Gallifrey One convention just a couple of years too late. I was hoping she may have made an appearance this year, like Katy Manning did last year, or Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton did this year, as part of the Tenth Planet invitees, or as the special guest for Sarah Jane Adventures.

Elisabeth Sladen, aka Sarah Jane Smith, I will miss you. All of the Doctor Who family will miss you.

 

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