The Windkey and the Lamplighter

John Hughes is a very busy man

John Hughes is truly amazing. First, he wrote the tune
Cwm Rhondda
This is the backbone for a number of classic hymns, including "Guide
me ever great redeemer" and "God of grace and God of glory." It’s a
wonderfully evocative tune.

Beyond that, he wrote and directed most of the 80s: Home Alone,
Beethoven, Uncle Buck, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller, Breakfast Club,
Sixteen Candles, and the National Lampoon movies.

And if that weren’t enough, he’s the author of a nice structuring idea
for computation, called Arrows. His
paper setting out
these ideas is very nice, though the later
tutorial is probably
a better start.

2006 11 22

Death Notices

This is certainly a step up from the "We regret to inform you…" telegrams:

A manager at a Pennsylvania design studio, she’d been in her office on
Nov. 4 last year when three uniformed soldiers came to inform her that
her son had been killed on a combat mission in Iraq’s Anbar
province. A few weeks after Jeffrey’s Nov. 14 burial at Arlington, a
team of Special Forces soldiers arrived at her home and presented an
hourlong PowerPoint presentation on the details.

I wonder if this is semi-standard, or whether these were just friends
of his doing something for his family. I can’t imagine it’s possible
to always say everything. In some cases it must not be possible to
say much of anything.

Some part of me is horrified that PowerPoint should show up at that
time and in that cause—but I suppose it gets the job done.

2006 11 17

Wedding pics

We just received the pictures from the professional photographer.
Here are some highlights, mostly pictures of friends.

2006 11 16

Scene framing

"We walk out the door."

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard that in games. I heard
it last night. As before, it was a moment of terror: a blank canvas
thrown in front of me, with a demand that I make something
interesting. It’s a larger relative of the moment after hearing "I
get 4 successes to know about the history of this place." Any
knowledge skill works the same way: simulationist players demand that
I fill in more of the world.

I’ve got a new realization from last night: I don’t have to continue
the game right outside the door. I can pick up a scene however much
later I want. I’ve still got more to learn about this: last night I
guessed that the players wanted more time exploring the catacombs,
asked, and was confirmed. I should be able to read that, or just have
confidence in my own choices. But since I can skip forwards, I can
give them a scene of exploration, then jump right to an attacking
troll.

I fumbled a bit of that troll attack: by giving so much forecasting of
it, I gave the players a chance to avoid it. They wanted more
interaction, but played their characters as trying to avoid any
interaction. That’s crazy, but that’s players for you.

On the other hand, the random wandering exploration scene was
interesting color: one guy wanted to drop back and hide from the other
PCs, and another wanted to "fumble" checking for danger and
"accidentally" cause a cave in to isolate the skulker. That was neat!
I’m not sure how to do that from the GM’s chair. I guess players have
to do it themselves. It sure would be nice if players could have some
freedom to call for color and building scenes like that.

This was all with the free Burning Wheel
scenario "The
Sword"
I’m so happy with the BW demo scenarios, I’m even willing to run them
again if there’s call for that.

2006 11 02

games