Uncategorized – Page 148 – The Designer Monologues

October 1, 2008

FAR WEST: Am I Crazy?

So, longtime readers will be aware that I was working on a Western/Wuxia Mashup setting called FAR WEST (link goes to all tagged entries, including this one). The game, originally using FATE, didn’t quite gell for me, so I back-burnered the RPG project.

I’ve still been working on FAR WEST as a novel, and it’s going well, albeit slowly.

Today, though, a thought struck me, completely out of left field. Unexpected, odd….but, as they old saying goes…just crazy enough to work.

Could FAR WEST work as a 4E setting? The powers structure in 4E is already pretty wuxia-riffic, and wouldn’t take much tweaking to push over the edge into full-blown kung fu awesomeosity. Add rules for steamtech and firearms….come up with a collection of FAR WEST-appropriate classes….

I mean, sure — no non-human races or magic (beyond the wuxia stuff, which is pretty “magical” to western eyes)….but damn if it doesn’t strike me as do-able.

At this point, I’ll admit: I’m teetering on the fence here. Either way, I keep working on the novel. But would this work? Should I do this?

So I turn to you, Oh Devils and Angels on my virtual Shoulder. Whisper your Influence in my ear.

September 30, 2008

Fair & Balanced

Gotta love this — Fox Noise reporter takes a hands-poll in a diner in Pennsylvania, and when the result is overwhelmingly Obama, he says “it’s split”…..and the crowd (mostly seniors, from the look of it) laugh at him. The dangers of live television, bubba….

Even better on multiple viewings: The old woman in white, who I thought was a “McCain”, is actually moving her arm to pull her husband’s arm down….and then when the reporter says “Obama”, she puts both hands up…and so does her husband! Only the Fox reporter had his hand up for McCain! Fucking PRICELESS.

September 30, 2008

Work Frustration

Mostly ranting here (and not naming names, so it isn’t even particularly sexy), so feel free to ignore:

So, in addition to PDF and direct-to-consumer stuff, I’ve done some direct-to-retailer shipping for larger stores.

A while back, one such vendor (again, not naming names) placed some orders with me — but insisted that I send them via media mail, so that it would be a cheaper rate. I do not like doing this, as media mail is non-trackable, but I went ahead and did so.

I think you can see where this is going — sure enough, after a couple of orders, the vendor now claims that his most recent order (only about $300 wholesale) never arrived. My printer tells me they shipped it, and gave me the date it was sent, etc. — but of course, since it went out via media mail, I cannot do any tracking whatsoever…. and now this vendor is huffing and puffing about “putting me on the list” and how he has “no problem letting 25,000 people know” that I’ve supposedly ripped him off.

I know, I know — first and most obvious answer: Refund or Re-ship. But I have to tell you: the fact that the vendor *insisted* on a non-trackable ship method, and then claims that he never got it? More than a little bit fishy, to me. I mean, I know that a $300 scam wouldn’t exactly make him The Napoleon of Crime…. but given the ranting threat of public humiliation, I don’t exactly rule it out, either.

It’s times like these that I wish that I worked in a business that had a few less…..”special” individuals in it.