Blackmoor Vituperative

RavenCon 2006 went really well. Mike says that we actually made money (just barely), which is unheard-of for a first-year SF&F con. On the down side, Tee will not be co-chairing the con next year: he says it just took too much of his writing time. I was kind of disappointed that the 24-hour movie room (which was my idea) was not more popular. I suggested that we not have one next year, and Mike agreed. However, our feature presentation of Lost Skeleton of Cadavra with Cortney Skinner had plenty of people attending, and we had a good time with that, so I hope we can find a cool feature like that next year. I also have urged Mike to have a better con suite next year, with kosher hot dogs. Other than that, the panels all seemed to have plenty of people attending, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch gave us a nice little article, too.

PCGen and their official sponsors Silven Publishing are incredibly proud to announce the release of PCGen 5.10. This has been the culmination of a huge amount of hard work during a time of massive change for the project.

Other useful links:

PCGen’s release site
PCGen’s Wiki
PCGen’s alpha build
PCGen’s Online Docs

David Berlind has an article on CNet called “Are anti-DRM declarations falling on deaf ears?“. (The answer to that question, of course, is “yes”.)

The primary targets for his ire are Apple and their malevolent “Fairplay” restrictions on music purchased through iTunes, but the problem goes deeper than that. The media robber barons are colluding with electronics manufacturers and legislators to impose their malicious restrictions on everything that you buy. This is no different from the opposition to the printing press in the 15th century, and the consequences, should the media robber barons be successful, will be no less dire than if the the Eurpean nobility and the papal court had succeeded in supressing the movable type printing press.

This isn’t just about music, or software — this is about the future of our civilization.

Are you listening?

It’s not a secret that having two different ways of rolling physical damage in Hero System [xd6 for Normal attacks, and (xd6)*(y-z) for Killing attacks] sorely vexes me. Right now I am writing up weapons for Dark Empire (a game I hope to run soon), and some of them have two different kinds of damage. For example, a Veejhad Shockprod does a certain amount of electrical Killing damage, and it also does a few dice of NND damage. Writing up weapons like this and trying to explain how they work is really freaking annoying, because of this two-ways-of-rolling-damage thing.

So I am thinking again of trying to find one way of rolling damage. So here’s my new suggestion. The first part is the same as my old suggestion:

When building the character, “Killing” is a (+0) Advantage on Energy Blast or Hand Attack, just as “Stun Only” is a (-0) Limitation. The Powers “Killing Attack (Ranged)” and “Killing Attack (Hand To Hand)” are not available.

Killing damage is rolled the standard way, just like any other damage: 1d6 (one Damage Class) for 5 points.

Here is the new part: how to count Body. This would apply to all attacks, both Killing and non-Killing.

The pips on the dice are counted as Stun. In addition, one or two pips are counted as zero Body, three or four pips are counted as one Body, and five or six pips are counted as two Body.

What do you think?

Friday, 2006-05-05 – 19:30 – Chesapeake Central Library

Hey Fantasmo fans!

For those of you who were brave enough to make it through our all-night bad movie marathon on April 1 we salute you! It requires serious fortitude to endure back-to-back screenings of the likes of Night Of The Lepus and Can’t Stop The Music… the horror, the horror… 🙂 As an antidote to the aftertaste of those cinematic gems, we have some truly excellent films on deck for this summer. For our May episode, we’re shifting into classic monster mode with an evening devoted to the creature features of Universal Studios. If you’ve only seen these on the small screen, then you haven’t really seen them (trust us). Our lineup for the evening is:

19:30 – Frankenstein – The Boris Karloff classic!

21:00 – The Wolf Man – Lon Chaney Jr. stars in the granddaddy of all werewolf movies. Imitated by many, equaled by few.

22:30 – ??? Supercool Mystery Feature ???

Team Fantasmo would like to remind you to feel free to bring comfy portable seating, if you so desire. For more info, check out our Web site at www.chesapeake.lib.va.us.

Amid controversy, Palladium is going public with a plea for help.

Myself, I do not play Palladium, and I do not plan to. But if you do, and you feel that the company has treated you well and respected you, you should consider helping them out of this tough spot. Buy an art print. Maybe buy two or three or even more. That’s what I would do for a game publisher who had enriched my life, respected me, and treated me well.

From the Virginia Citizens’ Defense League:

HB 1577, Delegate Cline’s omnibus bill that makes CHP’s [concealed handgun permits] lifetime, eliminates the local fingerprinting option on CHP renewals, and a few other minor things, passed into law! As expected, both Houses accepted the Governor’s date correction on the bill unanimously. After July 1st, there will be no more local fingerprinting options on CHP renewals. Lifetime permits won’t become law until July 1st, **2007**. And that assumes funding for the State Police to do the annual background check on permit holders (nothing for permit holders to do – this is automatic). The VASP only needs $300,000 of funding and I expect they will get it.

This is a great law: it makes good social and economic sense. Frankly, I am surprised that it passed.

This news is a week old, but I just heard about it, so maybe you haven’t heard about it, either.

As part of their strategy to crack down on users of P2P file-sharing software, the RIAA and MPAA also went after the makers of the file-sharing apps. They saw their greatest success in the MGM v. Grokster case, in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Grokster could be held liable for the copyright-infringing use of its software and network and sent the case back to a lower court.

Streamcast Networks, which is responsible for the file-sharing program Morpheus, has decided to take its chances in court, breaking off settlement negotiations with record labels and movie studios. The RIAA and MPAA had informed Streamcast along with seven other companies of their intent to file suit against them in the wake of the MGM v. Grokster ruling last summer.

Streamcast’s decision to fight it out in court marks a change of heart for the company, which prevously said it planned to settle the case. In a statement, Streamcast CEO Michael Weiss noted his disappointment that the company couldn’t come to an agreement with the labels and studios and said that Streamcast wants its “day in court.”

One aspect of the negotiations between Streamcast and the plaintiffs had revolved around legitimizing the P2P service, perhaps in a fashion similar to iMesh. However, Weiss said that the negotiations soured when the talks turned from “a full-on partnership into a one-sided, unworkable deal.”

(from ArsTechinca, Streamcast to slug it out in court with RIAA, MPAA)

Just so we are all clear, here: organizations like MPAA, Macrovision, and RIAA are evil. They subvert the legal system and cripple the ability of future generations to create and enjoy works of art in every field: novelists, painters, filmmakers, musicians, singers, and everyone who enjoys these works are all being disenfranchised for decades, if not centuries, because of these ruthless gangsters.

Future government-issued travel documents may feature embedded computer chips that can be read at a distance of up to 30 feet, a top Homeland Security official said Tuesday, creating what some fear would be a threat to privacy.

Jim Williams, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s US-VISIT program, told a smart card conference here that such tracking chips could be inserted into the new generation of wallet-size identity cards used to ease travel by Americans to Canada and Mexico starting in 2008. Those chips use radio frequency identification technology, or RFID. […]

Williams’ remarks at an industry conference are likely to heighten privacy concerns about RFID technology, which has drawn fire from activists and prompted hearings before the U.S. Congress and the Federal Trade Commission. One California politician has even introduced anti-RFID legislation.

Many of the privacy worries center on whether RFID tags — typically miniscule chips with an antenna a few inches long that can transmit a unique ID number — can be read from afar. If the range is a few inches, the privacy concerns are reduced. But at ranges of 30 feet, the tags could theoretically be read by hidden sensors alongside the road, in the mall or in the hands of criminals hoping to identify someone on the street by his or her ID number.

(from CNet News, New RFID travel cards could pose privacy threat)

Just one more step toward universal surveillance.

A New York applied research center today released its first version of an online toolkit designed to help government agencies use Extensible Markup Language for managing Web sites.

The product, called the XML Toolkit, can be found at www.thexmltoolkit.org. Researchers at the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) at the State University of New York at Albany have been formally investigating and assessing the use of XML to replace HTML. HTML is the predominant language used to define and structure the layout of a Web document.

The center formed a partnership with the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations and the Office of the Chief Information Officer for a test project. In January, it presented results of the project in which five participating state government agencies established business case analyses and prototype Web sites using XML. The results led to the development of the online toolkit.

Using XML can improve workflow and decrease the time, effort and costs related to Web site management, according to CTG officials. The center converted its Web site to an XML format several years ago and dramatically reduced the effort necessary to manage the site, officials said. The site expanded from 1,300 pages to 5,000 pages in five years.

The toolkit offers a library of resources needed to manage a Web site with XML. It provides tips on how to create Web pages using XML, different approaches to setting up XML on a Web server and examples of codes for specific functions and results.

It also provides useful tools for XML development, publications related to the task and other hints. A feedback section enables visitors to comment on the library and provide their own resources, code samples and tips.

(from Federal Computer Week, Center unveils online XML toolkit)

I haven’t tested this yet, but I plan to. It sounds really interesting, but I have a feeling that for someone of my skills, it’s not any simpler than simply creating a XHTML/PHP site the way I currently do.