Thursday, November 27, 2003

Anime and Mecha d20

Finally got around to downloading the Anime and Mecha d20 System Reference Documents from Guardians of Order the other night (this is probably the first pen-&-paper-RPG-related thing I've read in months, since I got hooked on RO).

From what I've skimmed, the Anime d20 SRD offers point-based character creation, adds in Tri-Stat Attributes, and tinkers with a few nuts and bolts to add a more cinematic anime feel to the d20 system. New classes are drawn from popular Japanese animation concepts such as the Pet Monster Trainer, Magical Girl, and Mecha Pilot. The standard D&D classes are also broken down and modified to bring them in-line balance-wise with these new classes. So, essentially Anime d20 is BESM converted to d20. I'd prefer to stick to either standard BESM or even Tri-Stat dX for my "fast-and-fun" games though.

Now, Mecha d20 brings mecha-creation rules to d20 in much the same way that Big Robot, Cool Starships did to 1st Ed. BESM. Mecha in the rules set is not limited to classic mobile suits or super robots though but can be extended to include any vehicle. One thing that caught my eye is the Attributes, Booster and Chobam Armor. o_O Now I want to run a Super Robot Wars campaign with this! >.<

Still trying to find enough time to launch a Tri-Stat dX campaign. Something with mecha would be cool but high fantasy wouldn't be bad either. If anyone's interested, leave your idea here or email me; maybe we can set something up, even over the 'net. ^_^V

Game on.

Very Secret Diaries of the Fellowship of the Ring

"Day Three Million Five:
Am bored. Have been waiting for Middle-Earthlink guy to come and install DSL in Barad-Dur since second-age. Will use palantir as alternative to personal ads, as am lonely."

The Very Secret Diary of Sauron, Cassandra Claire

Now that The Lord of the Rings Return of the King is just around the corner, you guys may want to brush up on what has happened in the previous two installments by reading the hilarious "very secret diaries".

Oh, and watch the trailers here (trailers of the upcoming movie; not a parody).

Game on.

Monday, November 24, 2003

A Battery of Tests

Recent spam on the friendster network led me to the Quiz Me webpage. Below are the results of a handful of tests I took on a whim.

Gods, I miss her.

My Color


ORANGE



You are driven and optimistic. You strive to succeed in life while lightening the mood of those around you. You do well at any job you put your mind to.




Find out your color at Quiz Me!


Am I or Am I Not? That is the question.



Are you Addicted to the Internet?

67%


Hardcore Junkie (61% - 80%)
While you do get a bit of sleep every night and sometimes leave the house, you spend as much time as you can online. You usually have a browser, chat clients, server consoles, and your email on auto check open at all times. Phone? What's that? You plan your social events by contacting your friends online. Just be careful you don't get a repetitive wrist injury...




The Are you Addicted to the Internet? Quiz at Quiz Me!





Oh, man...

Completely Pointless Personality

The Completely Pointless Personality Quiz
The Completely Pointless Personality Quiz

My Past Life

Quiz Me
Leonard Anthony P. Arcilla was
a Stubborn Photographer
in a past life.

Discover your past lives @ Quiz Me

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Untitled

now i cannot speak,
i lost my voice,
i'm speechless and redundant,
'coz I love you's not enough,
i'm lost for words.

-- greenday, redundant (from the album, nimrod)

The Real Deal on Philippine Culture

A batchmate of mine sent this URL (Get Real Philippines!) via our highschool batch's yahoogroup; pinoys out there may want to check it out. I found it a very amusing read, but it's not news, though. We Filipinos certainly do have festering culture. Still, I'm damned proud to be part of it.

Game on.

Friday, November 14, 2003

Landfall

(or Dawn Of A New Day)

I've been trying to reconcile what I'm truly feeling for the past few weeks. Something (or more appropriately, someone) suddenly came up and swallowed me whole. And the funny thing is, I was actually glad it happened.

Before she came, I was nursing my wounds from a previous battle, wounded and hovering on death's door. I was beginning to slide back into my previous Darkness, that ugly misshapen thing that had once consumed my being and spat it out, angry, forlorn, and cynical. I was getting sick of people leaving me. Leaving with promises that they'll never forget me and yet breaking them almost immediately.

But now she's here--my Muse, my Inspiration--and I've thrown my fate to the whims of the random cosmic forces of the multiverse, hoping that she will be the one. That this time, it's for real. That this time, it's forever. Because I will gladly face opposing odds, just to be with her.

It's finally sinking in, this new reality. The last battle was not the final one. I am still standing, thanks to her healing hand. My beloved's hand.

And here I am poised upon the brink of the future, thinking, I am so thankful she decided to stay...

Game on, all.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Farewell To A Friend

As I was updating my blog links today, I took a peek at Enelya V.'s pRO journal and got quite a shock. It's been closed! o_O

(Now that I think about it, my Inspiration mentioned the fact to me in passing a week or so ago... but a lot's been happening then for the fact to sink in.)

St. Enelya Vardamir (bottom center) with the A.E.G.I.S. Adventurers

Enelya V. was a great acolyte in Rune Midgard (yes, on all three servers), and a good friend as well. Her absence will surely be missed. Those of us who struggle against the final days of our world have lost a valuable ally.

Game on.

Sevrin's Knighting

I've mentioned Sevrin Astergarden's reaching knighthood earlier. Here's a screen cap taken a couple of hours before her knighting, showing the two taking a much needed break after some frantic combat in the fourth level of the Payon Caves.

I regen so slooow.

And this one's taken while we're celebrating her knighthood; she's already wearing her knightly armor here:

I prefer to be referred to as 'hot' though XD

Fynn Elenium, Assassin

Should have posted this earlier but didn't feel like it. Here are pics of Fynn as an assassin (he joined the ranks of the assassins some time last month).

Don't mess with me!I wonder what's keeping Sevrin...


Oh yeah, Fynn's really blue-haired. I made a mistake with his previous pics (see Fynn Elunium, Thief of Morroc). Thanks to Mai for pointing it out ^_^. One more thing, Fynn's surname is "Elenium", unlike the Rune Midgardian armor-upgrading ore (which is "elunium", of course).

EarthBound!

The War Against Gygas!
From my retrogaming news front: I just finished EarthBound on the SNES! I've had a copy of this game for some time but I only managed to find enough time to sit down and play it this month. Now that I've played through and defeated Gygas (the game's final uber-menace), I'm wondering why this game isn't as famous as it should be. Sure, the graphics, battle scenes, and story may not be as cool or as angsty as other RPGs on the SNES (particularly Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, and Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals) but EarthBound has a charm of its own: it doesn't take anything, even itself, seriously!

EarthBound: The War Against Gygas! is actually called Mother 2: Gygas Strikes Back! in Japan, since it's the second game of the Mother series (the first game was Mother on the NES, but it wasn't released in the US; Nintendo of America translated it but scrapped it before release; the prototype ROM got out though and was dumped by DemiForce).

The game is set in a world like our own 1990s Earth, and tells the story of four kids who are destined to save the world from an evil force called Gygas. Along the way, you meet a talking space bee, demented policemen, skate-thrashing street punks, Mr. T (yes, Mr. T), a Blues Brothers parody (The Runaway Five), insane cultists who worship the color blue, flying saucers, living piles of puke, dinosaurs, a village full of beings all named Mr. Saturn, a town infested with zombies... And then there's also the background music ranging from blues to a weird ambient techno-thing. The list is long and the weirdness never ends. Well, until you get to the end of the game, that is.

The battle engine is menu-driven, similar to the Dragon Quest series', where you choose which action each character takes every round. You fight un-animated enemies on a psychedelic background of swirling colors, and there's a text box that tells you the effects of the combatants actions. The game varies the text for certain enemies so you don't get the usual "So-and-so attacks!" and instead have "The Spiteful Crow pecks at your eyes!" as well as "New Age Retro Hippie uses a toothbrush!" (Yes, both are examples taken from the game itself). Combat is fast and fun for the most part, with the challenge factor amped a few for the bosses. Most bosses have a weakness you can exploit though.

I highly recommend EarthBound for RPG fans. This is a game that deserves to be up there with the classics.

Earthbound Review Rating:
Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10

For more information on Earthbound and the Mother series of console RPGs, see starmen.net, which is probably the best Earthbound-related site out there.

Game on.

A New Look

Okay. I've finally done it. And I think it's not pretty. Grabbed a template from somewhere of the net (*cough* blogskins *cough*) and modded it with my meager html skillz (thanks, maystar! ^_^). It'll have to do until I learn more and/or find time to redesign.

Also added whole new stuff on the sidebar thingy off to your right. Cool Blogs includes links to my inspiration's and her friend's RO journal (Sevrin and Mirielle, respectively); it'll fill up with other blogs of note when I update in the future. Check out also the Online Comics I read: currently only Sluggy Freelance and RPGWorld right now.

In other news, Sevrin Astergarden has reached knighthood in pRO Loki. Congratulations, Lady Sevrin! Fynn is looking forward to more adventures with you in Rune Midgard. May we always get the rarest drops! ^_^

Game on, all.