Night on Roxbury

For those of you not living in the greater Rockford area, many of the details of this post will be lost on you. I hope you at least take something away about the human condition.
Last night I had to take my mom back to her car after being at St. Anthony's Hospital. My mom works on McFarland Road, so the fastest route is Roxbury to Guilford to Perryville.
By way of backstory, several years ago, the privileged residents on Roxbury lobbied to have speed humps installed on their street to cut down on speeding traffic through their neighborhood. They were successful.
The first time I drove down Roxbury after the speed humps were installed, I drove over the first one at the recommended speed of 15 miles per hour. I bottomed out my 1999 Chevy Malibu. In fact, to this day the plastic shield under my engine is cracked.
I decided for myself that the idea of people having speed humps that large on a street where the speed limit is only 25 was a bit ridiculous. I began my campaign of civil disobedience that very day.
Now, when I drive down Roxbury (which isn't very often), I slow to about 5 mph to go over the humps, then immediately accelerate to 25 as fast as I can while laying on the horn until I reach the next speed hump. I'll admit that this is a dick move on my part, but I cannot abide by people with money using that money to get what they want at the expense of the populace at large. If you're on the northeast side of Rockford, many times Roxbury would be the quickest route for an ambulance to take to get you to St. Anthony's. Now the ambulances are forced into a longer, more congested route because they cannot drive down Roxbury.
Back to last night: I once again engaged in my standard practice while transporting my mom to her car. This was at about 7 PM, well before Rockford's noise ordinance goes into effect. Upon reaching the stop sign at Roxbury and Guilford, a man rushed my car and attempted to open my driver's side door, screaming profanities. I quickly yanked the door back shut and locked it, at which time this "gentleman" advised me that I'd better "keep on moving." I put my car in park.
I don't know if this guy was in a car behind me or if he was a disgruntled resident, but he quickly faded back into the night and whatever rock he crawled out from underneath. Either way, the incident ended and I proceeded to turn on to Guilford. Civil disobedience = 1, stupid citizens = 0.
I will once again freely confess that what I do on Roxbury is a dick move. It may even be a misdemeanor disturbing the peace. Yanking open a car door and threatening someone is, last time I checked, assault. What's more, it's stupid. If I had a gun in my car, I may have shot this man. If I had a knife, I may have stabbed him. I was incredibly startled by his attempt to force his way into my conveyance.
The next time you drive down Roxbury between State Street and Guilford Road, think of the people that live there. Think of the ridiculously slow speed limit and the ridiculously large speed humps. And think of the sheer insanity the sound of your car horn can cause.
Have a wonderful night on Roxbury.

Cold Sun Basic System

In an effort to start generating some interest in Cold Sun, I thought I would post the basic mechanics of the system. Remember, of course, that I'm still in alpha testing, so quite a bit may still change between now and release. I'm always interested in feedback and suggestions, so feel free to email me at Vaygh (at) yahoo (dot) com. Thanks, and enjoy!

This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.
BASIC TASK RESOLUTION SYSTEM
These rules assume a standardized system for determining the success or failure of any given task. That system is:
Three six- sided dice (3d6) + Modifiers vs. Difficulty Class
The Modifiers and Difficulty Class are determined by the type of task. If the result of the roll + the Modifiers equals or exceeds the Difficulty Class, the check is successful. Any other result is a failure.

Modifiers
A modifier provides a bonus (a positive modifier) or a penalty (a negative modifier) to a die roll.
Bonuses with specific descriptors, such as “equipment bonus,” generally don’t stack (combine for cumulative effect) with others of the same type. In those cases, only the best bonus of that type applies.
The only specific bonuses that stack are dodge bonuses, synergy bonuses, and sometimes circumstance bonuses. Circumstance bonuses stack only if they’re provided by differing circumstances; if two circumstance bonuses caused by similar circumstances apply, they don’t stack.
Specific bonuses that don’t stack include competence, cover, enhancement, equipment, haste, inherent, insight, morale, armor and size.
Any bonus without a descriptor (such as simply a “+1 bonus”) stacks with other bonuses.
All penalties stack, regardless of their descriptors.
Difficulty Class
Checks are made against a Difficulty Class (DC). The DC is a number set by the GM (using the rules as a guideline) that a character must attain to succeed. Table: Difficulty Class Examples shows some sample tasks and the Difficulty Class associated with a task of that level.
Table: Difficulty Class Examples
Difficulty (DC)
Example
Very easy (0)
Notice something large in plain sight
Easy (5)
Climb a knotted rope
Average (10)
Hear an approaching security guard
Tough (15)
Disarm an explosive
Challenging (20)
Swim against a strong current
Formidable (25)
Break into a secure computer system
Heroic (30)
Leap across a 30' chasm
Superheroic (35)
Convince the guards that even though you’re not wearing an ID badge and aren’t on their list, they should let you into the building
Nearly impossible (40)
Track a trained commando through the forests of Brazil on a moonless night after 12 days of rainfall
THRESHOLD
In some cases, it's important to know not just whether a given action is successful or not, but what degree of success is achieved. The mechanism for measuring the degree of success of a check is known as Threshold. Every point beyond the Difficulty Class + 5 (or Threshold) is considered a degree of success. The effect of beating the Threshold varies from check to check. See the specific check description for more information. In combat, each degree of success beyond Threshold deals an extra point of damage.
Extra degrees of success beyond Threshold + 5 are wasted, granting no additional benefit.
Example: Jake is trying to climb a difficult rock face. The Difficulty Class for his Athletics skill check is 12. Jake crosses his fingers and rolls, getting a 15. He also has a total +3 modifier to his roll, for a final result of 18. Since Threshold for the roll is 17 (DC 12 + 5), Jake has achieved Threshold + 1 (check result 18 – Threshold 17 = + 1).
Conversely, failing a check by more than five is known an hitting the Negative Threshold. Many checks have particular consequences for this level of failure. While not as extreme as a critical failure, Negative Threshold results can still be disastrous.
CHECKS WITHOUT ROLLS
A check represents an attempt to accomplish some goal, usually while under some sort of time pressure or distraction. Sometimes, though, a character can make a check under more favorable conditions and eliminate the luck factor. Alternately, some characters are exceptionally skilled, allowing them to succeed even in the face of distraction and stress. Other characters are not up to the task, failing even when circumstances are good and help is given.
Automatic Failure
When the DC of a given check is more than your character's applicable modifiers plus 20, the task automatically fails. In this case, the character is simply not talented enough to accomplish a particular task. No amount of luck or help can grant the needed insight or ability to succeed. The automatic failure rule applies regardless of distraction or threat; in fact, distractions and bad circumstances may make some tasks impossible for a character that may otherwise be capable of succeeding.
Automatic Success
If your character's applicable modifiers alone equal or exceed the DC of the check (meaning the check would succeed even if you rolled a zero), you may opt not to roll the dice and instead take an automatic success. In this case, your character is skilled enough and the task at hand is so mundane that it requires the slightest effort. Distractions and threats apply to the automatic success rule: some ordinarily routine tasks can become just difficult enough for a character to fail at them in the heat of combat.
Taking 10
When your character is not being threatened or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 3d6 for the check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure —you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn’t help.
Taking 18
When you have plenty of time (generally 10 minutes for a task that can normally be checked in 1 round or less), you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the feat being attempted carries no penalties for failure, you can take 18. In other words, eventually you will get an 18 on 3d6 if you roll enough times. Instead of rolling for the check, just calculate your result as if you had rolled an 18.
Taking 18 means you are trying until you get it right, and it assumes that you fail many times before succeeding. Taking 18 takes one hundred times as long as making a single check would take.
Since taking 18 assumes that the character will fail many times before succeeding, if you did attempt to take 18 on a skill that carries penalties for failure, your character would automatically incur those penalties before he or she could complete the task.
CRITICAL FAILURE AND SUCCESS
When a three is rolled on the dice (all ones) and the provisions of the Automatic Success rule (Section X.X) do not apply, a critical failure has occurred. Also known as a botch, a critical failure indicates that the character has failed spectacularly at the task at hand. Critical failure results are determined by the GM and should add drama to the story.
Critical successes occur when the dice come up all sixes (18) and the provisions of the Automatic Failure rule (Section X.X) do not apply. Commonly known as crits, a critical success usually achieves the optimum level of success possible for a given check. See the specific check description for more information about the results of a critical success for that check. In combat, a critically successful attack deals damage to the target's wound points, bypassing their vitality points. These attacks are usually devastating to their victims.
Critical successes combine with the Threshold mechanic (Section X.X), making a skilled character who crits a very dangerous individual.
FAVORABLE AND UNFAVORABLE CONDITIONS
Some situations may make a skill easier or harder to use, resulting in a bonus or penalty to the modifier for a check or a change to the DC of the check.
The chance of success can be altered in four ways to take into account exceptional circumstances.
1. Give the character a +2 circumstance bonus to represent conditions that improve performance, such as having the perfect tool for the job, getting help from another character, or possessing unusually accurate information.
2. Give the character a –2 circumstance penalty to represent conditions that hamper performance, such as being forced to use improvised tools or having misleading information.
3. Reduce the DC by 2 to represent circumstances that make the task easier, such as having a friendly audience or doing work that can be sub par.
4. Increase the DC by 2 to represent circumstances that make the task harder, such as having an uncooperative audience or doing work that must be flawless.
Conditions that affect your character’s ability to perform the task change the modifier. Conditions that modify how well the character has to perform on the check to succeed change the DC. A bonus to the modifier and a reduction in the check’s DC have the same result: They create a better chance of success. But they represent different circumstances, and sometimes that difference is important.
OPPOSED CHECKS
An opposed check is a check whose success or failure is determined by comparing the check result to another character’s check result. In an opposed check, the higher result succeeds, while the lower result fails. In case of a tie, the higher modifier wins. If these scores are the same, roll again to break the tie.


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Time Flies...

So, it's been almost three months since I posted a new blog entry. "WTF?" you might ask. Truth is, several things have kept me from the bliggity-blog page:

1. Dungeons & Dragons Online is now free to play! Come join me on the Khyber server. My characters are named Mana Starfire and Iocasta. I usually play a few nights during the week, after I put Muirne to sleep (around 7:30 CST).
2. I am playing virtually in a Shadowrun 4th Edition game run by my friend, Alex Rodriguez (not the basball player). Using a PHPbb message board, all of the game's legwork and downtime activities are managed without using up valuable time at the gaming table on Sundays. This is a great idea and I'm glad to be able to get my tabletop gaming on without actually being at the table.
3. Cold Sun is almost ready for alpha testing. What is Cold Sun? Cold Sun is my first solo attempt at a tabletop RPG. It's a post-catastrophic contemporary setting, in which mankind's hubris is proving to be his downfall. The struggle to survive against the forces of nature and man is the focal point of the game. The system is based on the 3.5 OGL SRD from Wizards of the Coast. Veteran 3.5 players will recognize the nuts and bolts under the hood, but the system's far more flexible and intuitive than standard d20.
4. Hockey season has started! Woot! As a matter of fact, I had the chance to go to my first Rockford IceHogs game of the season last Saturday. It was a great game (after the first period) with multiple fights, close scoring chances, an overtime and a 9 round shootout! The Blackhawks aren't looking too bad either, if you ignore the goaltending crisis that seems to be shaping up. I hope Cristobal Huet can pull it together and start putting up some numbers. Ce qui la baise, Chris?
5. And, of course, all the other various and sundry bits of modern life.

I will endeavour to be more timely with my blogging going forward. After all, I've got a game to start building Internet buzz on! :)

Gatesgate

OK, maybe Gatesgate is a bit of a stretch, but I thought I would opine on the state of race relations in the quiet white- trash suburban utopia of Loves Park, Illinois. For those of you who do not partake of mass media, click here to get up to speed. I'll wait for you...

Good, you came back. I'll preface my narrative by making a few qualifying statements:

1. I did not personally witness the arrest of Professor Gates.

2. I have not read the police report of Professor Gates's arrest (and yes, the “s's” is correct: read The Elements of Style by Strunk and White).

3. I am an American of European descent; in other words, white.

I'm sure that there's blame on both sides of the Gatesgate incident. I'm sure that President Obama could have “calibrated” his words more carefully. I'm sure that racism exists within the ranks of police forces around the country, just as there are still prejudiced paddys, spooks, krauts, spics, heebs, slopes, ruskies, chinks, guineas, limeys, frogs, canucks, camel jockeys, redskins, gobblers, punjabs, noogins... whoa! I kind of lost it there for a second. What was I saying again? Oh yeah, there's racist and prejudiced people all over, in every profession.

At about 9:00 PM on a Friday night in 1999 I was driving with my friend Alex to my then- girlfriend's house to hang out and watch movies. There was an electrical issue with my car, a 1984 Nissan 300ZX Turbo, that sometimes caused my rear lights to fail. I had turned onto a major street from another when I saw flashing lights behind me. I pulled over, oblivious to the recurrence of the light malfunction. I should mention that, at the time, I was 19 years old and familiar with the standard “license and proof of insurance” shtick when stopped by the police. Alex was too, obviously, and we both got our wallets out to produce our ID. Being normal guys, we both carried our wallets in our back pants pockets. In order to get our wallets our of our pockets, we had to remove our seat belts (which I insist passengers in my car use). That was mistake # 1.

When the officer approached the car, I already had the window rolled down, licenses and insurance card in hand. The cop asked the same question they all do: “Do you know why I stopped you?” I honestly didn't and said so. The policeman told me that my rear lights weren't on and I explained that I did not know that the issue had cropped up again. I told him how the switch had been replaced once already and that I would definitely get it fixed again. “So where are you headed tonight,” the officer asks me. I tell him we're going to my girlfriend's house. He responds, “Both of you?” Apparently it's against the law in Illinois for two guys to hang out with one girl: we must have been planning an orgy. I tell him yes.

The cop's next statement floored me. He said, “I also noticed that you guys weren't wearing your seat belts.” As I told you above, I told the officer how we had taken them off after he stopped us so that we could get to our wallets. He stated that he had seen that we were not wearing the safety restraints when he first pulled us over. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from looking at pictures of the Nissan 300ZX.

It's at this point that Officer Friendly asks if I mind if he takes a look inside my vehicle. Being a fairly well- informed citizen, I opt to exercise my rights and tell him that I do not consent to a search of my car. My reasons were two- fold: one, I was starting to get a little irritated with this guy; two, the entire interior of the Z is visible from the window. Serpico responds with a threat to summon a drug- sniffing dog to check the car out (which Illinois law allows, much to my dismay as a strict constructionist when it comes to the Constitution). I snap back, “Get the dog, I don't care: he's not going to find anything.” Mistake #2.

The cop returns to his squad car, presumably to start writing tickets. While we're waiting for the officer to return, a tow truck pulls up in front of us. The policeman walks up to the tow truck driver after a few minutes and chats with him, motioning in our direction a few times. After about five minutes total, the truck drives off. When the cop returns to my car, I tell him that if he's going to write us some tickets he should just hurry it up so we can be on our way. He asks me if that's what I want him to do. I reply, “No, but if you're going to, could you just do it so we can go?”

The officer then shines his flashlight on the large, very full backpack between Alex's feet on the floor of the car. He asks, “What's in there?” I don't let Alex respond: I'm pissed now. “Books,” I say. Indeed this was true. Alex had an entire bag filled with gaming books and Magic: the Gathering cards. The officer proceeds ask Alex if he can search the bag. I tell Lex he doesn't have to let him do that. He accedes, however, and consents to the violation. The cop finds nothing but books and cards. He returns again to his vehicle.

After about three or four minutes he walks back up the the car, clipboard in hand. Here come the tickets, I think. Super Trooper hands Alex a citation for failing to wear his seat belt, a $75 fine, if I remember correctly. To my amazement, I am given a warning for the tail lights. The officer bids us a good eve and we are released. I pull away with my hazard lights on (which do work, for some ungodly reason) and proceed to Tiffanie's house. The cop follows us all the way there, which is actually outside his jurisdiction as she lived in Machesney Park at the time.

What did this incident teach me? Don't mouth off to cops, no matter how out of line they are. That's what court is for. It also taught me that keeping receipts for repairs in your car is never a bad idea. Finally, it taught me not to be brown in Loves Park: Alex is of Haitian and Mexican descent.

Fuck the police, comin' straight from the underground...

That's Right, Bitches!

OK, so I swore I would never do this blogging thing. I lied.
So, what's going on in Dariusland?

1. My tooth is killing me. I had a cavity filled on 1 July and apparently it's aggro'ed the nerve, so now I have to have the tooth removed. I go tomorrow for that.
2. I'm working on my tabletop RPG entitled Cold Sun. I expect to begin playtesting before the end of the year. Chances are extremely good that it will not be published by Aegis Studios, the company of which I am a partner. More on this to come...
3. It's Bastille Day! I would encourage everyone to check out the Rush song entitled, appropriately enough, "Bastille Day," from their A Farewell to Kings album. Congratulations on your revolution, frogs! (Just remember we did it first. ;) )
4. I'm doing some geneology research about my family. There's some pics of my family on my flickr feed. It's quite interesting to see where we come from, and just a bit challenging too.

That's all for now.