allgeektout

[Link] Borders Offers Free eBooks

July 9th, 2010 · Links

You wouldn’t know it from their site… or their eBook application… or from any of their advertising really, but Borders is trying to entice people over to their eBook store by giving away free eBooks. The first few, all classics, automatically come with the desktop application when you download it:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
Grimms’ Fairy Tales, by the Brothers Grimm
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Unfortunately, unlike other books in the bookstore, these don’t show up in your library when you access the store in your browser, meaning you can’t download them in ePub format.

However, they are also giving out free eBooks for the next week (starting today, July 9th and running through July 14th) that you can access from your library, but getting them is a bit trickier. For one, at the time that I wrote this post, when I searched the store within the application, only one of the listed books showed up as free, while the others showed up at full price. Another quirk is that if you try to buy the free books from within the application, you still have to enter your credit card information, but if you get them from the Borders site, it only takes a single click to “purchase” them. These books are (link to the page on the Borders store included):

[EDIT: After I put this list together, I discovered there's also a section in the store labeled "Free for a Limited Time" that has all of these listed, making it much easier.]

Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, by Dean Koontz
One Shot, by Lee Child
The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott
Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, by Julia Child
Master Your Metabolism, by Jillian Michaels

In addition there’s a Free eBooks section, although you can’t add these to your library, just download them in PDF or ePub form (in addition, these are mostly scans of varying quality, some of them pretty bad).

The greatest part is that you can download these in ePub format, which is supported by nearly every eBook reader except for the Kindle. Granted, that’s one big gaping hole in support, but for everyone else you can put it on your eReader even if you don’t have one of the Borders-endorsed ones.

→ No CommentsTags:borders·eReader·free stuff

[Review] Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse – They Stole Max’s Brain!

June 22nd, 2010 · Reviews

This is a review of the Mac version of The Penal Zone. It is also available for PC, PS3, and the iPad.

It seems like the goal of Season 3 of Sam and Max is to give us a new gameplay experience each month. The first episode eased us into it by acclimating us to Max’s new psychic powers. Last month, in “The Tomb of Sammun-Mak”, we had to navigate the story out of order before we could understand how it all played out. Now, Telltale gives us a new look at Sam’s investigation skills – noir-style – in the new episode, “They Stole Max’s Brain!” (inspired by the similarly-titled Jane Austen novel).

[RPG Blog Carnival] A Late Entry

June 18th, 2010 · Features, RPG Bloggers Network

I just got word that someone else has belatedly added their own contribution to last month’s blog carnival. I’ve added them to the wrap-up post, but since not a lot of people will have the chance to see it there, I just wanted to link it to all of you.

This contribution from Nameless Kingdom Games takes a look at gaming without a GM when you don’t have enough people to play.

Thanks again for everyone that contributed!

→ 3 CommentsTags:rpg blog carnival·surviving the gaming drought

[Productivity Hack] Custom Search Engines in Alfred

June 15th, 2010 · Features

As I’ve mentioned before, my most frequently used application on my Mac right now is Alfred (@alfredapp on Twitter). One of the most useful features is the ability to add your own custom search engines, like the one I’ve highlighted below:

Now, while easy and instant access to TV Tropes may not seem like a way of enhancing your productivity, that doesn’t mean there aren’t useful things you can do with it. And adding your own is pretty easy. Here are some of the ones I’ve set up, and the Search URL that I input for it:

PREVIEW.fm, which lets you listen to 30 second samples of an entire CD without opening up iTunes. Great for when I’ve discovered a band I think I like and want to hear more of their music.
Search URL: http://preview.fm/?q={query}
Tweetie. This is one of the more clever custom searches – whatever you type is then sent to the Tweetie Twitter client as a tweet. I don’t know of a whole lot of them, but there are other similarly formatted URLs you can use to access other applications installed on your computer.
Search URL: tweetie:{query}
TARDIS Wiki, for when I need to quickly look up a recent episode of Doctor Who. The same format can be used for any Wikia hosted Wiki, as well; just replace “tardis” in the url with the correct subdomain
Search URL: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Search?search={query}
And finally, TV Tropes, for when you want to find a trope to reference in your current discussion, like TV Tropes Ruined My Life, or when you want to find a way to waste hours of your free time. The built-in search doesn’t work properly at this point, so you have to use their Google Custom Search instead.
Search URL: http://www.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-6610802604051523%3A2szln92pqym&safe=off&ie=ISO-8859-1&q={query}&sa=Search

The point is that pretty much every website you can search, you can add to your list of Alfred custom searches, and use only a couple of characters to quickly pull it up when searching (like “tv” in the picture above for TV Tropes). It’s fast and easy, and speeds up whatever you want to do.

→ No CommentsTags:alfred·productivity hack

[Link] Demon Dice in Action

June 11th, 2010 · Links, RPG Bloggers Network

My last entry into the Blogwalk had in it a quick dice game I had written called Demon Dice, with a backstory about an ancient battle between a demon and a wizard. While I had written it up fairly quickly, it was apparently good enough that @kaeosdad of Symptoms of Radness decided to use it in his own hybrid-PbP/tabletop game.

It was pretty exciting to know that someone thought my game was good enough to use at their own tabletop, and he added his own unique, dramatic flourish to the game that made it a lot more interesting. If I use it again somewhere, I’ll definitely steal some of the ideas he added into it. Check it out at his Obsidian Portal page – just scroll down to the comments.

→ No CommentsTags:demon dice·obsidian portal

[RPG Blog Carnival] What Doctor Who Taught Me About Arc Plotting

June 7th, 2010 · Features, RPG Bloggers Network

This post is part of the RPG Blog Carnival for June 2010 – What inspires your games? – hosted by Campaign Mastery.

If you’ve looked at my blog or Twitter stream more than once, it should come as no surprise to you that I am a fan of Doctor Who. And since I got into Doctor Who at around the same time as I got into gaming (give or take six months to a year), it also should come as no surprise that I take inspiration from the way the new series of Doctor Who plots their seasonal arcs.

See, each season, there is a repeated meme throughout the episodes – for example, “Bad Wolf” or “Torchwood”. These phrases follow the Doctor and his companion(s) throughout time and space, until they finally build up to a grand finale at the end of the season.

Now, it’s a point of contention in the fandom as to whether or not this is a good method of plotting, since oftentimes the finale comes out of nowhere, despite the repeated word or phrase. This season looks to be putting a twist on that by having the arc actually have an impact – some weeks greater than others – on the plot of each episode. But either way, the lesson is clear – even in an episodic adventure, you can build up to a grand finale.

So this is something that I’ve taken to heart when plotting out campaigns I would like to run. Each “episode” may stand on its own, but together they can form a strong story arc. Whether it’s through a repeated meme or an ever-present threat that follows your players, Doctor Who has taught me that even episodic storytelling can be connected into a grand and epic story.

→ 3 CommentsTags:doctor who·rpg blog carnival·what inspires your games?

[Opinion] When Will I Want an eBook Reader?

June 4th, 2010 · Opinions

A Kindle is something I’ve always been interested in – in varying degrees of intensity – since it was first released. But despite that, I’ve never actually really wanted one enough to get one. The topic of eBook readers has come up multiple times, both in real life and on the internet, so I’ve been thinking about what would make me actually want an eBook reader. It has more to do with the market than with the devices themselves.

BUNDLE OPTIONS

I feel like I read these were supposed to come out soon… a year or two ago. I like owning a physical copy of stuff I purchase. I still don’t buy music off of iTunes because I want the actual CD. The difference between music and books is that it’s pretty easy, quick, and inexpensive to then take the CD and put it on my computer in digital form. There’s no way to do that with a book, easily being the keyword. Amazon and Barnes and Noble really have no reason they shouldn’t be offering some kind of bundle (Borders too, but I’m still not sure if they’re the ones running the store or if they’re just rebranding the Kobo store). I would be willing to pay a (reasonable) premium in order to get a physical copy and a digital copy at once. Also wanted (but less plausible) is the ability to port my physical library onto my device in some way.

The problem with this idea is I’m not sure how many people this applies to. If there’s only 2% of the market that’s still interested in owning a physical copy, then the companies aren’t going to go out of their way to make this an option. I might have to cut my losses here.

OPEN(ISH) FORMATS

Ars Technica did a piece on this recently. Obviously, the manufacturers want to lock you on their device. But it’s silly that I can’t buy a book on the Nook and read it on the Kindle and the Sony Reader as well (there’s a slight exception in that there is a Kindle App for the iPad, but that’s still locking you into Amazon’s store). I hate to return to the music industry again, since they are two different industries, but an MP3 is an MP3 is an MP3 (replace with your favorite music format).

The theoretical problem behind this is of course the DRM. Another reason that I used to not purchase from iTunes is because of the DRM. But even there, that’s not relevant anymore. Maybe the reason it’s impossible to avoid comparing the two industries is because eBooks are going through the exact same motions. Kind of funny, considering that in the Ars Technica article I linked to earlier, there was this quote:

She [Penguin Group president Susan Peters Kennedy] staunchly noted that publishers aren’t keen on making the same “mistakes” as the music industry and falling into a battle over piracy.

Pirated eBooks were around before eBook readers, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. So publishers should move past that, and work together to pressure the web distributors into accepting an open format. That would be best for the publishers, anyway, since they could easily gain access to the widest market.

Interestingly enough, after I finished writing this post, I read that the Borders eBook Store coming out later this month will actually be DRM-free and use the open ePub format. But the Kindle, which I otherwise consider to be one of the most viable eBook readers, doesn’t support it, which makes it (according to Wikipedia) the only Reader that doesn’t support ePub.

Additionally, something that isn’t necessary for myself but I think would be good for the industry is a sub-$100 device. Borders recently announced a second eBook Reader that will hit $119, which means we’re getting close to breaking that barrier. Even though eReaders are relatively mainstream thanks to Amazon, this would really push it out there.

These things could easily never come to pass, and I’ll probably eventually cave and buy an eReader anyway. But until these changes happen, I’m going to be holding off for as long as I can. Because right now, I really don’t want one.

→ 1 CommentTags:eReader·kindle·nook

[RPG Blog Carnival] Surviving the Gaming Drought – Roundup

June 2nd, 2010 · Features, RPG Bloggers Network

My time in charge of the RPG Blog Carnival is over. The stream of content was a bit drier than I would have liked for this blog carnival, but what we lacked in quantity, we more than made up for in quality.

Mike of “Late to the Party” started us off with his recollection of his longest dry spell – three years, while he was in college.

Abraham, aka @Dicecreator, the guy behind some really amazing hand-crafted dice, saves his blog for posting about his dice, but commented on the kick-off post with his own story about how he spent his time after an evil GM drove him away from gaming for a while.

@jatori from TenLetter talked about the drought he was very recently faced with – and how he solved it with play-by-post gaming.

Jade (@jaderpggm) finds a variety of ways to keep herself entertained when she can’t get a gaming fix, and wrote about all of those on her blog as well.

@creativecomic not only threw his own hat into the ring, but one of his commenters did as well – thanks, James!

And finally, while I didn’t get to contribute as much as I would have liked to either, I did get a chance to write about my one brief respite from the drought, when I forayed into the world of gaming over the internet.

EDIT: A few weeks late, but not any less wanted, is another contribution from Nameless Kingdom Games, looking at how to game without a GM when you don’t have enough people to play.

Thanks again to everyone who participated, and I now direct your attention to @JohnnFour of Campaign Mastery, who’s hosting a blog carnival about what non-gaming media inspires your games. I think I may have a few things to say about that as well.

→ 4 CommentsTags:rpg blog carnival·surviving the gaming drought

[Blogwalk Fantasy #1] The Curse of the Vault – Game with the Jovial Stranger

May 31st, 2010 · Features, Fiction Writing, RPG Bloggers Network

What’s this? @Greywulf of Greywulf’s Lair is hosting a Blogwalk – a story that takes place across multiple blogs in the style of a Choose Your Own Adventure book. This post is part of the first fantasy Blogwalk, The Curse of the Vault. If this part of the story is your first look at this Blogwalk, make sure you start at the original post!

“So you want to play a game, then?” chuckled the Stranger. “Excellent. Let’s begin – have you ever played Demon Dice?”

DEMON DICE

As the Stranger starts to explain the game, he tells you the legend behind it. Many years ago, it’s said, when the village was just beginning to take shape, a demon from the nearby forest woke up and was angry to find part of his domain torn down to make houses. So he attacked the village for many weeks with his aberrant creations, and though the warriors tried to fight, it wasn’t enough. Soon, the villagers were thinking of moving away and resettling.

Just as they had lost hope, a wizard came, and promised to drive away the demon. As he entered the forest, none of the creatures could hurt him, and he finally made his way to the center of the forest from where the demon commanded his army. And the wizard made a deal – if the demon could beat him at a game of Demon Dice, then the villagers would leave and never come back. But if the wizard won, the demon would have to return to sleep forever.

“Who won?” you ask. The Stranger chuckles, but doesn’t answer your question. Instead, he hands you a die that has been carved out of rock, with scratch marks indicating the number of the die face.

To play Demon Dice, you need 2 six-sided dice. Pick one of these to be the “Wizard” that you roll, and one of them to be the “Demon” that the Stranger rolls. Roll both of them, and each time, give a point to whoever has the higher number. The first person with three points wins the game. However, if the Demon rolls a 6, he curses the Wizard and the Wizard loses a point (but the Demon doesn’t get one). If the Wizard rolls a 1, he charms the Demon and the Demon loses a point (and doesn’t get one for rolling higher).

If you win the game of Demon Dice, click here. [Unclaimed link!]

If you lose the game of Demon Dice, click here. [Unclaimed link!]

Want to help continue the story? Pick out which story thread you want to write about, then let me know in the comments! Then write up the story, including at least two hooks that another blogger can pick up on. Finally, come back here and post the link so that I can linkify my story. Be sure that you include a link to this post and the original post so that people can trace the story back to its start.

If you don’t get the story hook you want, don’t worry! There’ll be many more options to choose from as the project goes on.

→ 4 CommentsTags:blogwalk·the curse of the vault

[Doctor Who Adventure Seed] In the Doctor’s Wake – Dorabella

May 27th, 2010 · Plot Seeds, RPG Bloggers Network

One of the first sets of adventure seeds that I wrote were about what happens to the people that the Doctor changes after he’s left. Recently, I happened to have come up with a few more ideas, so I thought it might be nice to do a follow-up post. Here’s one more Doctor Who adventure seed, post-Doctor.

[Note: This assumes you've seen the first couple weeks of the new series of Doctor Who. I've put the seed after the jump for the benefit of those who haven't.]